CHAPTER 10
MINING, MINERALS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT
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234
Managing the Mining Environment
234
Large-Volume Waste
243
Mine Closure Planning
246
Mining Legacies
248
Environmental Management
250
Recommendations on Managing the Mining Environment
251
Associated Environment Issues
251
Energy Use in the Minerals Sector
254
Managing Metals in the Environment
257
Biological Diversity: Threats and Opportunities
264
The Way Forward
266
Endnotes
MMSD BREAKING NEW GROUND
One of the ideas at the heart of sustainable
development is that of ‘capital formation’. In this
report, five main forms of capital are discussed:
natural, manufactured, human, social, and financial.
In theory, determining whether the world is on the
path of sustainable development is measured by the
net gain or loss in the total of these capital stocks
over time.There is as yet no common currency
between all the forms of capital, so the judgement is
bound to be subjective.
Many people hold the view that natural ‘capital’
should not be used at a rate that exceeds the capacity
for replenishment or that reduces environmental
quality, regardless of whether in the process other
capital stocks are increased.1 Others believe that when
natural capital is reduced, the conditions for sustainable
development may still be met so long as other forms
of capital, such as manufactured and human capital,
increase.2 This is the debate over ‘hard’ versus ‘soft’
views of sustainable development described in
Chapter 1.
There is obviously change in nature even without
human activity; ecosystems are not static.The ‘hard’
view of sustainable development does not demand that
ecosystems be unchanged, or that humans not alter
them, but instead that some limits on that alteration be
observed, to keep change within the ability of
ecosystems to self-correct.This is a difficult position
for this sector to live by if it includes resources laid
down over geological time.Thus all depends on what
is considered to be ‘critical natural capital’ that has to
be maintained to keep the system in balance, and that
must therefore not be traded for improvements in
other capital stocks.
Part of the problem is that the make-up of natural
systems and how they work – let alone their resilience
to perturbation – is not well understood.This in
turn leads to the idea of precaution, but that too brings
methodological problems – how precautionary is
enough?
It is hard to argue that mineral extraction, processing,
and use generally benefits the local ecosystems
concerned or makes them more productive.There may
be a few cases when such direct benefits do occur,
such as the mining of areas previously degraded that in
the process reclaims them, or rare species of bats
surviving because old mine tunnels replace habitat
232
humans have destroyed. Indeed, part of the flora of the
Cornish peninsula in the UK owes its presence to the
mining that has gone on there since Roman times.
But these are exceptions.
Taking a wider view, it can be argued that the use of
metals, say, in the production of sewage pipes reduces
the impact of people on their environment in our
cities and in many other places. It is possible to
imagine wood pipes – but at what cost to the forest?
The arguments will no doubt continue.
Overall, the ability of local ecosystems to provide
biological benefits has often been seriously impaired by
mining and mineral processing. In the most modern
mines, smelters, refineries, recycling centres, and
landfills, there may be a considerable reduction in the
damage done to natural capital per unit of output
versus the past. But growing demand for minerals also
means that total output is higher and so in absolute
terms the damage function may be increasing. It is not
known because it has never been measured for a
nation, let alone the world.
‘Best practice’ in environmental management has a
long way to go before it reaches the last operation.
And then the best operations still have some impact,
although their contribution is smaller per unit of
output and no doubt will be reduced further.The
worst are still bad from an absolute environmental
point of view, but progress is apparent. For example,
the best modern surface coal operations may leave
behind sites at which casual observers may not even
realize that mining has occurred. However, it is hard
to contest that past mining methods have led to
environmental damage that will take a very long time,
if ever, for nature to repair.
In some of the world’s famous mining regions, it is
hard to accept that there has been some kind of gain
that offsets the obvious loss of natural capital. Potosi, in
Bolivia, has been mined for five centuries, producing
a phenomenal amount of silver but at a great human,
cultural, and environmental cost. Bolivia is still a poor
country today, and the region around Potosi is one of
the poorest in the nation, though mining still provides
some of the better livelihoods for local people.3
The legacy of colonial buildings is a World Heritage
site that attracts some tourism, but the built or human
capital that would compensate in some way for the
losses must be largely found elsewhere.
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MINING, MINERALS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT CHAPTER 10
When evaluating the undoubted environmental
impacts of the minerals industry, the first question to
ask is whether the impact is within the self-correcting
capacity of the ecosystem. Is the duration of the
impact short-term or long-term, and if it is long-term,
is it reversible or irreversible? Second, is it worth it in
terms of some other ‘capital accumulation’? These
bigger questions are touched on throughout this
report.They cannot be answered in any rigorous way,
as the metrics for doing so are not available.Thus this
chapter is not about taking stock of the overall position
but about how to reduce impacts, wherever they occur,
to a minimum. Even so, much has had to be excluded.
Since it is obviously impossible to catalogue all the
environmental impacts that may occur as a result of
some aspect of the minerals chain, this chapter will
focus on the issues that are widespread – that occur
worldwide or with great frequency – and that have
long-term implications. Some impacts that may meet
these criteria are not included, however.
The use and management of cyanide in the gold
industry will not be dealt with because during the
MMSD Project, there has been a major discussion on
this issue promoted by the UN Environment
Programme (UNEP), which led to the development
of a Cyanide Code (described later in this chapter).
Most of what can be said on that issue was said by the
parties to that debate and there is little that can be
added.4 The radiological and other downstream impacts
of mining uranium are also excluded because they
relate to a limited class of minerals, and the issues,
while important, are complex and were beyond the
chosen scope of MMSD.
Finally, issues related to water are only included where
associated with other impacts such as acid drainage.
This is partly because water consumption in minerals
production, while an important impact, ends when
operations end and thus does not present a long-term
liability. But it is also because weighing up competing
water demand issues was beyond the project’s scope.
Note, however, that some regional reports have gone
further on this question because the competition for
water imposes critical developmental constraints.5
This chapter covers seven principal areas of discussion
where the impacts are serious and long-term and thus
most likely to be considered impairment of the natural
capital base:
MMSD THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
large-volume waste,
mine closure planning,
mining legacies,
environmental management,
energy use in the minerals sector,
managing metals in the environment, and
threats to biological diversity
The first step towards managing and mitigating the
negative environmental impacts of mining involves
identifying where responsibilities lie. Results of the
MMSD research and consultation suggest that such
responsibilities should be shared far more broadly,
particularly since civil society will perceive impacts in
different ways depending how much they benefit and
how much they individually shoulder the costs. At the
moment, however, it is rarely local people who have
the power to decide whether the trade-offs are
worthwhile.
The majority of the content, views, and
recommendations contained in the following section,
Managing the Mining Environment, were developed
based on the working papers prepared for MMSD on
large volume waste, mine closure, and abandoned mines;
the proceedings of the workshop held to discuss these
topics; and comments received from an independent
review committee and workshop participants.6 These
background papers document some of the existing best
practice guidelines, including those developed by the
International Council on Metals and the Environment
(ICME)/UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the
Mining Association of Canada, Australian Minerals and
Energy Environment Foundation, and the Chamber of
Mines of South Africa.
233
MMSD BREAKING NEW GROUND
Managing the Mining Environment
Large-Volume Waste
Large-scale mining operations inevitably produce a
great deal of waste. One of the most important
environmental considerations at any mine is how to
manage these large volumes of waste so as to minimize
the long-term impacts and maximize any long-term
benefits. On land, the physical footprints of waste
disposal facilities are often significant, and these
operations are rarely designed for a beneficial end-use.
When they occupy land that was previously productive
as wildlife habitat, farmland, and so on, it may be a
very long time before the previous level of
productivity is achieved if they are not rehabilitated
adequately.
In addition to loss of productivity, these wastes can
have a profound effect on the surrounding ecosystems.
Where they are not physically stable, erosion or
catastrophic failure may result in severe or long-term
impacts.Where they are not chemically stable, they can
serve as a more or less permanent source of pollutants
to natural water systems.These impacts can have lasting
environmental and socio-economic consequences and
be extremely difficult and costly to address through
remedial measures.
This is perhaps the principal reason for the widespread
belief that mining, unlike many other land uses, is a
permanent commitment of land.The visible evidence
that land has in fact been rendered sterile and
unproductive through past mining activities is such a
powerful message that it is unlikely to be changed by
anything short of a concerted effort at rehabilitating
the worst of these sites.
In recent years, there have been significant advances in
best practice in the environmental management of
mine sites.This includes the introduction of operating
procedures that have improved the methods of waste
disposal and rehabilitation methods that reduce the
likelihood of long-term impacts. But in the majority of
cases there is still a long way to go before a mine can
be seen as contributing to ecosystem improvement.
The volume of mine waste produced depends on the
geological characteristics of the ore body, the type of
mining (underground versus open pit), and the mineral
being mined as well as the size of the operation.
234
Mine wastes are produced in a number of different
categories, including:
• overburden – the soil and rock that must be removed
to gain access to a mineral resource,
• waste rock – rock that does not contain enough
mineral to be of economic interest,
• tailings – a residual slurry of ground-up ore that
remains after minerals have been largely extracted,
and
• heap leach spent ore – the rock remaining in a heap
leach facility after the recovery of the minerals.
A key factor in deciding on the location of mine waste
disposal facilities is cost.The cheapest option is often
to deposit waste as close as possible to the mine site, or
in a location where it can be transported by gravity.
Selection is also heavily affected by climate: the options
are very different for Escondida in the Chilean desert,
where it almost never rains, and Grasberg or Batu
Hijau in Papua (formerly Irian Jaya), where annual
precipitation may total 8–11 metres.7 Mining engineers
also have to take into account the topography,
hydrology, and geological characteristics of an area.
The options may be different where there is a high
risk of earthquakes. Other considerations include local
communities, existing land use, protected areas, and
biodiversity.
These decisions can have an enormous impact on the
future of local people, who will have to live with the
consequences long after the mine is closed and the
company has gone. A company on its own simply does
not have the information about local ecosystems or the
details of local social and economic life that qualifies
it to make these decisions unilaterally.This underlines
the importance of consulting closely with local
governments and communities while planning and
constructing waste disposal facilities.
Land Disposal
The most common place to dispose of mine waste is
on land. A variety of methods are used, which depend
among other things on the type of waste.
• Overburden and Waste Rock
Overburden and waste rock are typically broken up
sufficiently to be moved to the allocated disposal site,
where the material is usually dumped and any excess is
bulldozed over the edge, forming slopes at the natural
angle of repose.The most important considerations are
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MINING, MINERALS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT CHAPTER 10
to produce stable slopes and control the flow of water
in and around the waste so as to minimize erosion,
protect the structure, and try to prevent infiltration.
The most pervasive problem associated with waste
dumps is acid drainage, an issue considered in greater
detail later.Where precipitation rates are high, there
needs to be particular care to ensure the physical
stability of waste rock facilities, as they can fail with
catastrophic consequences.
In some climates, too little water can be a problem and
the surface of the facility may require regular wetting
to reduce the generation of dust.Wetting is not a
practical long-term solution and, at the time of closure,
a permanent method of rehabilitation needs to be
established. In some climates this can take the form of
a vegetative cover, while in more arid regions it may
be necessary to form a crust on the surface.
• Tailings
Tailings are the finely ground host rock from which
the desired mineral values have been largely extracted
using chemical reagents.This residue takes the form
of a slurry that is at least half water and can be
transported by pipeline.Tailings are usually discharged
into storage facilities and retained by dams or
embankments constructed of the tailings themselves,
mine waste, or earth or rock fill. (See Figure 10–1.)
When the tailings are discharged into the facility, the
solid fraction settles – forming a beach enabling the
slurry water to be decanted and discharged or
recycled. As tailings are deposited they are often used
to increase the height of the tailings embankment.
Given that tailings storage facilities usually contain
residual chemical and elevated levels of metals, it is
vital to ensure their chemical and physical stability.
These structures are prone to seepage, which can result
in the contamination of the ground and surface water
and, in the worse cases, can fail catastrophically – an
issue considered in greater detail later. Because tailings
are made up of fine particles, when dry they can be
a source of serious dust problems: in the Bay of
Chañaral in Chile, there is a real concern about leadrich mine tailings that blow over the local town.8
In Gauteng, South Africa, old tailings storage
facilities generate dust that can be blown over several
kilometres. During the dry months the dust is
overpowering, and local people are forced to
tape up their windows and doors in an effort to
keep it out.9
MMSD THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
Mining often takes place in areas where water is scarce.
In these regions, the consumption of water for mineral
processing can have a severe impact on aquifers. At
some mine sites the tailings may be thickened prior to
disposal and the liquid reused in the processing circuit.
In many cases this has the added benefit of recycling
process chemicals.Water may also be decanted from
the storage facility and recycled to the processing
plant. Any recycling of tailings water reduces the
discharge to the surrounding environment and the
potential for negative impacts.
Tailings may also be thickened to improve the method
of disposal. Conventional tailings are 30–50% solids,
while ‘thickened tailings’ are 55–75% and ‘paste tailings’
are over 75% solids.Thickened tailings can be stored
with minimal water retention, creating a more stable
structure both physically and chemically, while paste
tailings can be used to backfill underground mines.
• Heap Leach Spent Ore
A third type of waste deposited on land is the residue
of heap leaching. Here the crushed ore is placed
on a membrane-lined ‘pad’ and irrigated with the
appropriate reagent – cyanide in the case of gold or
silver, and sulphuric acid in the case of copper or
uranium. (See Box 10–1 for information on a new
cyanide management code.) The leach solutions are
then collected in channels around the pad and pumped
to the processing plant. (See Figure 10–2.) The effluent
is then re-charged with reagent and reused.
The goal is to operate a closed system that does not
discharge any of the solution into the natural water
systems. However, all liners leak to some extent, and
current best practice is to build the pads with multiple
liners and to incorporate systems for leak detection.10
After recovery of the metals from the ore, the heap
is rinsed to remove any remaining chemicals. Even
after rinsing, however, some of the chemicals and
elevated levels of metals may remain, so the facilities
need to be designed to control surface drainage to
prevent erosion, seepage, or failure.
While overburden, waste rock, tailings, and spent heap
leach facilities display some issues in common, each
type of waste has its own separate set of concerns.
By mixing some of these waste products, it may be
possible to compensate for the problems associated
with each: waste rock is porous and prone to acid
235
MMSD BREAKING NEW GROUND
Figure 10–1. Tailings Dam Geometry Definitions
Source: Martin et al. (2001)
Upstream Method of Tailings Dam Construction
Dike raised by scooping coarse
tailings from beach
Tailings discharge line raised in increments.
Tailings discharged by spigotting off dikes
Beach
Pond
Coarser tailings
Finer tailings
Tailings and/or
local borrow
Irregular contact between
coarse and fine tailings
Starter dam
Downstream Method of Tailings Dam Construction
Subsequent dikes constructed in stages using
coarse tailings, waste rock, or borrowed fill
First stage dike
Pond
Tailings
Starter dam
Under drainage
Centreline Method of Tailings Dam Construction
Subsequent dikes constructed in stages using
coarse tailings, waste rock, or borrowed fill
Pond
Starter dam
236
Under drainage
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MINING, MINERALS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT CHAPTER 10
Box 10–1. International Cyanide Management Code
At the present time, there is no economically viable,
environmentally sound alternative cyanide to using the reagent
in the production of gold. Cyanide is also an hazardous chemical
that requires careful management.
To address public concerns about cyanide use and
management, UNEP and the International Council on Metals and
the Environment (ICME) co-hosted a two-day multistakeholder
workshop in May 2000. Participants confirmed the importance
of a Code of Practice ‘to drive improved performance in mining
through high standards of technology, management and control
to provide the public with confidence that their concerns were
being addressed’. The Code’s mission statement is ‘to assist the
global gold mining industry in improving cyanide management,
thereby minimizing risks to workers, communities and the
environment’.
generation, while tailings are very fine and prone to
instability. One idea is that the co-disposal of these two
wastes could create storage facilities that are both
chemically and physically more stable. (See Box 10–2.)
The International Network for Acid Prevention
(INAP) has embarked on sponsored research to
investigate various aspects of co-disposal.These include
constructing facilities for the co-disposal of waste rock
and tailings and the use of co-disposal to construct
covers for waste rock retention facilities.
Mine wastes are occasionally seen as a resource and
may be suitable as aggregates for road construction and
Box 10–2. Co-disposal
Developed by a committee of 14 participants from large and
small gold producers, the financial sector, environmental
groups, governments from industrial and developing countries,
labour, and chemical suppliers with broad public consultation,
the code sets out nine principles, each with specific Standards
of Practice to protect workers, the environment, and the public.
The principles address responsible production, safe transport,
proper handling and storage, operations, the need for
decommissioning plans, worker safety, emergency response
strategies and capabilities, training, and public dialogue.
At present, an adoptive institution is being sought for the code,
and a third-party audit has been planned but not yet started.
Mechanisms are still being developed with respect to loss of
certification, dispute resolution, and periodic updating.
Co-disposal mixes waste rock with tailings. This has the
For further information, see http://www.cyanidecode.org and
http://www.mineralresourcesforum.org/cyanide.
Sources: Van Zyl et al. (2002); discussions at MMSD Vancouver workshop, 2001;
http://www.inap.com.au/inap/homepage.nsf.
advantage of filling in the gaps between the particles of waste
rocks. If consolidation characteristics are right, this excludes
some of the air, thereby reducing the potential for acid drainage
and also reducing dust problems with wind-borne tailings. The
total amount of land needed for disposal is reduced, less water
is used, and the deposits can provide a better substrate for
growth of vegetation and other biota. However, this kind of
‘co-disposal’ also carries risks. If the proportion of tailings is
too high, the deposit will be physically unstable; if it is too low,
air and water can penetrate more easily, leading to increased
dangers of acid rock drainage. Co-disposal is currently mainly
used in the coal mine sector, particularly in Australia.
Figure 10–2. A Heap Leach Facility
Source: Adapted from IAEA (1993)
Acid (or alkali)
Crushed and
ground ore
Perforated pipe with
slight gradient
Leaching process
Solution collected for
concentration
Waste rock
Geomembrane
Prepared ground
Fine gravel cover
MMSD THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
237
MMSD BREAKING NEW GROUND
building materials. A number of projects are looking at
a range of end-uses. However, the volume of wastes is
so great it is hard to see more than a small fraction of
them being used in this way.They should also be used
with care, especially in the construction industry, as
contaminants in the waste have sometimes caused
long-term problems.
Backfilling mine waste into underground workings or
open pits has certain advantages and disadvantages.
The main advantages are the reduction in the use of
land and the stabilization of underground workings.
However, the increase in the volume of waste when
excavated means that it is not possible to backfill all
the material removed. As a result, only around 60%
can be returned and the rest placed in surface
disposal facilities.
Backfilling open pits during operations is only
possible where there are separate pits or an elongated
pit. Double-handling of waste materials is rarely
economically feasible, and environmental problems can
occur during the temporary storage of the waste.
However, the environmental impacts of a partially
backfilled open pit may be considerably greater than a
surface storage facility. Some critics argue that the
companies reject backfilling without sufficiently
serious analysis, and this may at times be true.
Waste may also be disposed of under water in either
natural or artificial lakes or flooded open pits. (See
Box 10–3.)
Acid Drainage
The most serious and pervasive environmental
problem related to mining is acid drainage (AD).11
AD occurs in many major mining regions, particularly
Box 10–3. Lake Disposal
Lake disposal can be used for waste rock, as the lack of
exposure to bacterial action and oxygen reduces acid drainage.
It needs to take into account the chemical composition of the
waste, however, and artificial structures have to be carefully
monitored. Some pits expose acid-producing rocks, and adding
more acid-producing rocks can alter water quality and lake
biota dramatically.
Source: http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/mets/mend/.
238
those with temperate rainfall, and regional studies
show that it is a widespread problem.12 Where it does
occur it can have a serious impact on the productivity
of ecosystems. AD can be a long-term problem and
may result in a reduction in natural capital.
Acid generation begins in the circumneutral pH range
when iron sulphide minerals are exposed to, and react
with, oxygen and water.This is a process that occurs in
nature, and there are cases where it has reached
problem levels without any help from humans. But by
exposing these materials and breaking them up, mining
can greatly accelerate the rate at which these reactions
take place. Other factors that influence the oxidation
of sulphide minerals are temperature, acidity levels
(pH), ferric/ferrous iron equilibrium, and
microbiological activity, especially in the form of
Thiobacillus ferrooxidans. Mining exposes sulphide-rich
materials in the walls of open pits, mine tunnels, waste
rock, tailings, and so on. AD is of less concern where
mines exploit oxidized ore bodies. Because these
deposits are less numerous and seem to be exploited
more readily than sulphide deposits, some argue that
the problem will increase as industry exhausts the
oxide sites.13
AD is characterized by depressed pH values and
elevated concentrations of dissolved heavy metals; the
sulphuric acid easily dissolves metals such as iron,
copper, aluminium, and lead. One of the most serious
aspects of acid drainage is its persistence in the
environment. An acid-generating mine has the
potential for long-term, severe impacts on surface and
ground water and aquatic life. Once the process of acid
generation has started, it is extremely difficult to stop.
The combination of acidity and dissolved
contaminants is known to kill most forms of aquatic
life, rendering streams nearly sterile and making water
unfit for human consumption.14
AD is not a problem at every mine, even in sulphiderich zones. In some circumstances the reaction may be
inhibited by a lack of water or oxygen. In others the
surrounding soils may have ‘buffering’ qualities that
help neutralize the acid.15 But in some cases metals and
sulphates may still be mobilized even though acid
conditions do not appear.
In some cases the problems may be evident from the
outset and steadily increase during the life of the mine.
In others, AD may only appear after the mine has
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MINING, MINERALS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT CHAPTER 10
closed and the company has left the area. Once started,
however, the process can endure for centuries or even
millennia. For example, acid generation in the Rio
Tinto mining district in Spain is believed to have been
caused by Roman or perhaps even Phoenician miners.16
• Treatment
Dealing with AD effectively is very difficult.There
are known management methods to minimize the
problem. Effective mine design can keep water away
from acid-generating materials and help prevent AD
from occurring. But in many cases this is not adequate
to prevent it altogether.
AD can be treated actively or passively. Active
treatment involves installing a water treatment plant.
Here the AD is first dosed with lime to neutralize the
acid and then passed through settling tanks to remove
the sediment and particulate metals.The costs involved
in operating a treatment plant can be high and require
constant maintenance and attention.
The goal of passive treatment is to develop a selfoperating system that can treat the effluent without
constant human intervention. An example would be
passing the water through an artificial wetland in
which organic matter, bacteria, and algae work
together to filter, adsorb, absorb, and precipitate out the
heavy metal ions and reduce the acidity.17
So far no one has designed a passive system that will
operate indefinitely without human intervention. It is
therefore not free of ongoing costs.Treatment will be
needed not just during the mine life, but indefinitely
into the future. A number of research initiatives and
programmes are currently aimed at the prevention and
control of acid drainage.The best known of these are
Mine Environment Neutral Drainage and INAP.18
mining operations have been undertaken in full
compliance with pertinent environmental laws and
without causing any ‘significant environmental
pollution’ before issuing a new mining permit. (See
Box 10–4.) More than 50 mines have been studied in
an effort to find a site that can be shown to comply
with these requirements; all have been rejected. Failure
to show that there is any site that can meet these
criteria could have serious consequences for the future
of the mining industry, in Wisconsin and elsewhere.
The science that allows prediction of the occurrence
of AD in advance is imperfect and is oriented more
towards a range of probabilities than precise answers.
In addition, the science that is available is not always
used, particularly when regulatory authorities lack the
capacity or the understanding to ask the right
questions and demand the best answers.The debate
largely takes place out of public view because the
issues are thought to be too technical for the public to
understand, because the regulatory process occurs in an
environment without a tradition of public participation,
because the issues are cloaked in scientific jargon,
and perhaps because the benefits may come now
while the costs will come later, which puts a premium
on optimism.The trade-offs among competing
criteria are therefore not made consciously, explicitly,
or transparently.
Box 10–4. Wisconsin Legislation on Mining
The law requires the Wisconsin Department of Natural
Resources to make two key determinations before issuing a
mining permit:
• that a mining operation has operated in a sulphide ore body
that, together with the host rock, has a net acid-generating
potential in the United States or Canada for at least 10 years
• Sustainable Development and Acid Drainage
There could be a debate about the extent to which
the reduction in natural capital represented by AD can
be outweighed by the addition to human capital.The
debate could become even more complex if it focused
on who has the right to make those trade-offs –
governments of developing countries, the more
environmentally focused North, or those who can
speak for the next generation.The legislature in
Wisconsin in the United States has taken the dramatic
unilateral step of requiring – as a condition of issuing a
mine permit – verification that one or more sulphide
MMSD THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
without pollution of the groundwater or surface water from
acid drainage at the tailings site or at the mine site or from
the release of heavy metals, and
• that a mining operation that operated in a sulphide ore body
that, together with the host rock, had a net acid generating
potential in the United States or Canada has been closed for
at least 10 years without pollution of the groundwater or
surface water from acid drainage at the tailings site or at the
mine site or from the release of heavy metals.
Source: State of Wisconsin (1997); Wisconsin Statute 293.50. The Mining
Moratorium Law.
239
MMSD BREAKING NEW GROUND
Waste Storage Failures
Any human activity that involves shifting large
volumes of rock, cyanide, acid, and other hazardous
reagents will inevitably be subject to accidents.
Accidents have occurred throughout the chain of
mineral production and use, though there has been
enormous progress in the best companies in reducing
the frequency.This does not mean that more cannot be
done. Accidents that occur later in the minerals cycle,
at smelters and refineries, are discussed to some extent
in Chapter 6.This section addresses accidents at mine
sites and focuses on those with serious and potentially
long-term environmental consequences.
At the global level, the greatest single concern is the
failure of tailings storage facilities.19 Although it is
difficult to arrive at total numbers, given different
monitoring and reporting systems, one estimate
suggests that there are 3500 tailings storage facilities in
active use and many thousands of others that are
closed, at least some of which could still pose serious
risks.20 Since 1975, tailings storage facility failures have
accounted for around three-quarters of major miningrelated environmental incidents.21 Major accidents
seem to occur on average once a year, but there are
many other smaller events that fall beneath the
threshold of government reporting requirements.22
As a specific example of this, in 1996 Rio Tinto
initiated a two-year review into the disposal of mine
waste at 75 sites world-wide.The review included a
desk top study of all sites followed by inspections at
26 sites.The results of the survey showed that in the
10 years prior to the survey, there had been a total of
16 structural failures (21% of the sites), 10 of which
involved tailings and 5 involved waste dumps.
In addition, 10 facilities were classified as ‘high hazard’
under the Western Australian criteria.23
The failure of tailings storage facilities can have
devastating consequences.24 In 1965, an earthquake in
Chile destroyed 11 facilities, one of which released 2.4
million cubic metres of tailings that ran 12 kilometres
downstream – burying the town of El Cobre and
killing 300 people.25 Such incidents naturally provoke
fear and anger, but even the threat of failure can cause
severe anxiety to the local population. Major incidents
also bring calls for tighter regulation. In Chile, the
El Cobre failure resulted in new regulations for tailings
storage facilities. In the United States, the Buffalo
Creek disaster overcame years of industry opposition
240
and led to the enactment of national environmental
standards for coal mines.26 The list is a long one and
includes incidents other than tailings failures, but the
connections between highly publicized accidents, of
which tailings failures are the most frequent, and new
and tighter regulations is inescapable.
As indicated earlier, the location of large tailings
storage facilities is a land use decision with what are
effectively permanent consequences. If the facility is a
hazard, this risk does not always end when the mine
closes. If the facility is badly sited, designed, or
constructed, rains, floods, or earthquakes can cause
failure long after operations cease.
• Why Do Tailings Storage Facilities Fail?
The main problem is that tailings storage facilities are
built over long periods. Often the embankment is
constructed from the waste itself. Unlike water storage
dams, which are usually built in one operation and can
then be given a rigorous final inspection, tailings
storage facilities are built continuously, possibly over
the many years of the mine’s life.This means quality
control is much more difficult. During this time the
ownership or management may have changed, and
there will have been considerable turnover in staff.
So even if the original design parameters were sound,
they may be lost, they may not be followed with
sufficient care, or the originally planned height may
be exceeded. Meanwhile, the properties of the tailings
may also have changed as the mine enters new ore
zones or as processing technology is adjusted.
The leading large international companies usually
employ qualified consultants, send their staff to
international meetings, and keep abreast of
developments in design.This is not to say that there are
never errors at the outset, resulting from poor site
selection or flaws in design. But these at least can be
minimized if companies follow the latest best practice
and use an independent design review committee.
The most serious problems affect big and small
companies alike. Organizations are notoriously poor at
ensuring quality management over long periods of
time. It is surprising how often there is no single
responsible person in charge of the facility. Having a
competent person in charge with clear authority is an
absolute requirement for safety; too often it is absent.
Someone with the correct training is needed to ensure
that the company carries out any necessary adjustments
THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT MMSD
MINING, MINERALS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT CHAPTER 10
in design as conditions change.27 But even good
personnel have problems managing if they do not
know the original assumptions on which the dam was
designed, so that they can tell if these are exceeded.
Too frequently the original design parameters are
forgotten and the people managing the facility are no
longer clearly aware of the limits they are supposed to
observe.The level of on-site expertise usually falls once
the project receives a permit and commences normal
operations.
In principle, even the smaller companies should be
monitored by lenders, governments, and local
communities. But these external agents rarely provide
effective oversight. Insurance companies have a clear
interest in better practice in this area, but are often
deterred from conducting their own reviews by the
cost. Governments, too, pay most attention to the early
stages – ensuring perhaps that there are suitable
regulations about initial design but making few
stipulations about ongoing stewardship.28 In any case,
governments rarely have sufficient skilled staff to
monitor conditions or step in when problems arise.
Under these circumstances inspection can be more
dangerous than inattention, since it will give the
management a false sense of security.29
Finally, both companies and local administrations
frequently fail to ensure effective risk assessment and
emergency planning.This includes measures to ensure
the protection of both the settled local communities
and also any informal squatters who may have been
drawn to the area by the mine.
• Best Practice for Tailings Storage Facilities
Tailings storage facilities require not just good design
but also close, consistent, routine attention over a long
period.Those in charge need to be well trained and
aware that they are being monitored, otherwise their
performance is likely to deteriorate.This close
surveillance is difficult to achieve, particularly in
remote locations.
The first priority should be to ensure that all designs
are based on the highest design standards possible.
One option would be to have an international system
of certification for designers, or at least some formal
pronouncement by engineering bodies as to the
minimum qualifications for undertaking such a task.
Companies should also establish a second layer of
MMSD THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
protection elsewhere in the system, probably at
company headquarters through geo-technical review
boards.30 This would ensure periodic review and audit
of safety conditions, including a thorough review of
the original design, any new factors that might
require adjustments, and an assessment of how the
management system is being implemented in the field.
The third layer of protection should be external and
involve governments, local communities, and insurers.
Governments should be able to ensure frequent
inspection by adequately qualified people. Some
countries already have this capacity, but others do not.
Neither the first nor the second layer of protection
will be fully effective if appropriate instrumentation is
not incorporated into the facility from the beginning.
Marine Disposal
Though most mining waste is deposited on land, some
companies discharge waste rock or tailings in the sea
at depths varying from the shoreline to the deep sea.
The greatest known impacts of this practice appear to
be found in shallower waters.
Shoreline or surface-water disposal typically occurs
where depths are less than 20–30 metres.This is the
zone of highest biological productivity, and impacts
can be severe.The waste increases water turbidity and
smothers the organisms that live on the seabed.
The sediment may also get washed up on the shore.
Shallow-water disposal generally involves releasing
tailings from submerged pipelines into fjords, sea
channels, and coastal seas at depths of between 30
and several hundred metres. In Canada, the Island
Copper Mine and the Kitsault Mine have deposited
tailings at such depths in sheltered fjords, and these
appear to have remained mostly at the intended
deposition area.31
Due to the problems associated with shoreline or
shallow-water tailings disposal, greater interest has
recently been shown in deep-sea tailings disposal.
This involves depositing wastes below the maximum
depth of the surface mix layer, the euphotic zone (the
depth reached by only 1% of the photosynthetically
active light) and the upwelling zone, on the assumption
that the waste will not be re-mobilized in the surface
water.32 When the waste is discharged from the
241
MMSD BREAKING NEW GROUND
pipeline, it continues to flow downwards, eventually
settling on the sea floor at perhaps 1000 metres or
deeper. (See Box 10–5.)
Pipelines have the same risks of accidents under the
water as they do on land. At Newmont’s Minahasa
Raya gold mine in Indonesia, for example, the tailings
are piped out 800 metres from the shore to a depth of
82 metres.33 But the pipe has broken more than once
and released tailings to the surface, which is said to
have caused a serious loss of fishing resources and
destroyed some of the surrounding coral reefs.34
Box 10–5. Marine Disposal from the Misima Mine in Papua
New Guinea
One example of deep-sea marine disposal of tailings is found at
the Misima open-pit gold and sliver mine in Papua New Guinea
(PNG) – a joint enterprise between Placer Dome Inc (80%) and a
state-owned company. Mining began there in 1989 and ended in
2001, though processing of stockpiled ore will continue for
another four years.
The company has disposed of overburden and waste rock
(around 53 million tonnes in total) and tailings (15,000 tonnes per
day) in the sea. This option was chosen following five years of
Deep-sea disposal remains a controversial option,
however, and there is little agreement on or evidence
about its long-term effects. Some industry studies
suggest that the risks are minimal and that within
several years of closure the sea floor can be recolonized
by benthic fauna.35 Other research suggests that deepsea ecosystems might be more complex and biodiverse
than comparable terrestrial fauna.36 Relatively little is
known about deep-sea ecosystems and the interaction
among marine species at different depths.
In some circumstances deep-sea marine disposal might
be an option deserving serious consideration – when
the mineral deposits are on islands that have little spare
land, when available space is at risk of flooding, or
when the stability of land disposal facilities is uncertain
because of high rainfall or seismicity. Nevertheless,
since relatively little is known about the long-term
environmental implications of deep-sea marine
disposal, many observers are demanding that this
option be considered only after far more extensive and
rigorous scientific investigation. And in light of some
of the tailings pipe failures that have occurred, the
problem of how to get the tailings into deeper water
without undue risks to shallower near-shore
environments would have to be addressed.
environmental investigations as well as extensive consultation
with landowners and the government. After the tailings are
Riverine Disposal
washed with fresh water in thickeners, they are mixed with sea
Even more controversial than marine disposal is the
practice of disposal of waste rock and tailings into river
systems. In this case, however, a good deal is already
known about the impacts, and almost all of this
experience is negative. Miners have tipped waste into
rivers throughout history, and at numerous sites the legacy
of riverine disposal will endure for a very long time.
water and de-aerated before being discharged into the sea, via
pipeline, at a depth of 112 meters. The depth of the sea floor in
the area of deposition is 1000–1500 metres.
So far, this method of disposal appears to have had relatively
little environmental impact. A systematic review carried out
since 1993, using direct observation, acoustic sensing, and
analysis of water samples, indicates no permanent damage to
the marine environment. Tailings appear to have stayed in place
and, after five years of deposition, bacteria and meiobenthos
had recolonized the sediment.
Nevertheless, it is still too early to come to final conclusions.
The Misima operation is still ‘young’, and there is relatively little
research on the long-term effects of such methods on tropical
marine areas. Moreover, the current information has been
funded entirely by the company and has yet to be verified by
independent research.
Source: Van Zyl et al. (2002); Jones and Jones (2001).
242
There are only three currently operating large mines
where international companies use rivers for waste
disposal.These are the Ok Tedi copper and gold mine
in Papua New Guinea (see Box 10–6), Placer Dome’s
Porgera gold mine in PNG, and Freeport’s Grasberg
copper and gold mine in Papua (formerly Irian Jaya),
Indonesia.37 Riverine disposal is also currently used by
many small-scale and artisanal miners around the
world, by a number of small or medium companies,
and at an unknown number of sites in Russia and China.
The main advantage of riverine disposal is that it is
cheap and convenient, and it may also appear less
hazardous than constructing a tailings storage facility,
especially in high-rainfall areas with little stable land
and a risk of seismicity. In the case of Ok Tedi, the
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MINING, MINERALS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT CHAPTER 10
Box 10–6. Riverine Disposal from the Ok Tedi Mine in Papua
New Guinea
The riverine disposal of tailings and waste rock at Ok Tedi gold
and copper mine in PNG is highly controversial. It has involved
lengthy legal disputes and there have been extensive efforts by
downstream communities to close the mine. The company that
held a majority share in the mine, BHP Billiton, decided to
withdraw from the project because it no longer wished to be
associated with this method of waste disposal. (The socioeconomic impacts of this project are considered in Chapter 14.)
The original proposal included two stable waste dumps and a
conventional tailings storage facility. During the early stages of
construction, a massive landslide destroyed the site of the
tailings storage facility. To keep production on schedule, an
interim tailings scheme was approved that allowed for the
retention of 25% of the tailings, the remainder being released
into the Ok Tedi river. An alternative site for a tailings storage
facility was never identified, and the construction of a
permanent waste disposal facility was deferred. At present,
Riverine disposal has caused many types of
environmental damage.These include a change in the
morphology or physical form of rivers and an
increased risk of flooding, resulting in the die-back
of vegetation and damage to the aquatic ecosystems.
The finer sediments can also have impacts further
downstream when they reach estuaries or deltas. In
Chile, 150 million tonnes of mine sediments disposed
of in the Salado River from the El Salvador mine have
created a new 3.6-square-kilometre beach many
kilometres downstream in the Bay of Chañaral.39
These impacts may have serious consequences for
communities downstream – particularly for people’s
health. As well as changing the physical character of
the river, mine wastes may also increase the levels of
minerals and process chemicals to the water. Overbank
flooding may increase the incidence of malaria. Local
people may find their livelihoods affected if deposits
reduce the potential for fishing or cultivating riverside
gardens.
approximately 80,000 tonnes of tailings and 120,000 tonnes of
waste rock are discharged daily into the Ok Tedi. Waste material
has reached the Fly River, into which the Ok Tedi flows.
The Ok Tedi mine has led to a four- to fivefold increase in the
suspended sediment concentrations in the Fly River. This
exceeds the sediment transport capacity of the river system,
There has been a long and often bitter debate over
whether in some circumstances riverine disposal might
be acceptable. Some companies and governments argue
that it should be accepted if the alternative is to have
no mining at all. Other companies have stated that they
will no longer consider riverine disposal an option.
resulting in the build-up of sediment in the river bed in the Ok
Tedi and middle Fly River, which in turn has increased the
incidence and severity of overbank flooding. The flooding has
resulted in the deposition of mine waste and abraded waste
rock on the flood plains, causing the die-back of vegetation. The
area affected by ‘dieback’ increased from 18 square kilometres
in 1992 to about 480 square kilometres in 2000. A risk
assessment carried out by the company stated that the area
ultimately susceptible to dieback induced by mining ranges from
1278 to 2725 square kilometres.
Dredging has been attempted along part of the Ok Tedi river bed
in an effort to reduce the impacts of the flooding. This has
reduced the frequency of flooding, but the problems of
vegetation dieback continue.
Source: Van Zyl et al. (2002); Kirsch (2002).
government of Papua New Guinea accepted this
option because the only alternative was to shut the
mine – with severe economic implications.38
MMSD THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
Mine Closure Planning
For a mine to contribute positively to sustainable
development, closure objectives and impacts must be
considered from project inception.The closure plan
defines a vision of the end result of the process and sets
concrete objectives to implement that vision.This
forms an overall framework to guide all of the actions
and decisions taken during the mine’s life.
Critical to this goal is ensuring that the full benefits of
the project, including revenues and expertise, are used
to develop the region in a way that will survive after
the closure of the mine.To achieve this, a mine closure
plan that incorporates both physical rehabilitation and
socio-economic stability should be an integral part of
the project life cycle and designed to ensure that:
• future public health and safety are not compromised,
• environmental resources are not subject to physical
and chemical deterioration,
• the after-use of the site is beneficial and sustainable
in the long term,
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MMSD BREAKING NEW GROUND
• any adverse socio-economic impacts are minimized,
and
• all socio-economic benefits are maximized.
At the time of mine decommissioning and closure, not
only should physical environmental rehabilitation be
completed in a satisfactory manner, but the community
should have been developed to maintain a sustainable
existence.
Closure planning was first used as an environmental
tool but was quickly expanded to include socioeconomic issues.40 Best-practice planning for closure
involves integrating the closure design for the entire
mine area, identifying the timing of the planning
process, and considering issues that relate to specific
disposal methods and post-mine economic and
community activities, as well as financial planning.
There are significant costs when a mineral project
closes.Workers may be unemployed or need to pay to
relocate somewhere they can get a job. Someone needs
to pay to keep the roads open or the schools running.
Someone needs to pay to close the mine shafts, remove
hazardous reagents from the site for safe disposal,
stabilize the slopes, rehabilitate the facilities, and ensure
that long-term environmental and social problems are
minimized.
If there is no understanding in advance as to who will
be responsible for what, and no planning for the day of
closure, many of the benefits of development will be
lost.This has clearly happened in many instances in the
past, and these negative post-mining conditions have
contributed to the industry’s current public reputation.
If mine closure comes with little advance warning, the
company will no longer have any revenues from which
to fund anything. Government revenues are also likely
to be affected, the local economy depressed, and
individuals out of work.41 The result is that no one can
afford to do much. Public services fall apart, the
benefits of infrastructure are lost, and the community is
dislocated. Many companies in the past kept the results
of operations and consideration of closing confidential
as proprietary business information. Some of them
are now starting to believe that the more open this
discussion is, the more it allows other economic actors
such as government, workers, and local businesses to
make rational plans for their own future.This lets them
rely more on their own resources and foresight and
244
means they may turn less to the company to solve
problems.
Unemployed mine and minerals processing workers
have destabilized numerous governments over the
years, including in Bolivia, the Ukraine, and Serbia.
They have been a major political factor even where
governments did not fall, in countries such as the UK,
South Africa, and Germany. As a result, governments
often subsidize mining operations to keep them open.
This may be in the form of open subsidies to
unprofitable state enterprises, such as the payments that
nearly exhausted Romania, the years of Bolivian
subsidy of the tin industry, or the mines at Lota in the
south of Chile.
Companies have their own reasons for wanting to keep
mines open even after they have stopped being good
performers. Some of this may simply result from a
hope that prices will improve if the company just
continues long enough. Additionally, many of the
reasons may have to do with accounting rules, balancesheet pressures and the effect on a company already in
the economic doldrums of having to write off assets or
recognize costs. But some of it also has to do with a
lack of clarity about what the company will be
expected to pay when it closes and a desire not to
press the issue unduly. Some of the high-profile issues
on which the industry is currently being criticized are
controversial precisely because some feel that the
companies are not paying their fair share of long-term
liabilities at closure. (See the discussion of Marcopper
and Ok Tedi in Chapter 14.)
A framework for closure agreed at the outset could
significantly ease these problems for government,
companies, and communities.That would make it
easier to preserve the social and economic benefits of
development and to avoid long-term charges against
the natural capital account. It might also remove some
of the excess production and help to stabilize
commodity prices.
Closure Planning Today
The modern concept of closure planning is based on
the following key considerations:
• Pollution prevention – It is cheaper to prevent
problems than to try to fix them later. If a company
has an obligation to deliver the site in a specified
THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT MMSD
MINING, MINERALS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT CHAPTER 10
•
•
•
•
condition at the end of the mine life, it will create
strong incentives for pollution prevention during the
whole life of the mine.
Changing expectations – Companies can reduce the
risks of the rules of the game changing midstream
by entering into a binding agreement on the end
results they need to achieve.This makes costs more
predictable, and they can be recognized on balance
sheets.42
Continuity – Mines get bought and sold, companies
merge or are acquired, and management changes.
The ultimate objective must be to develop an
understanding about what the site will be like at the
end of mining, in a form that will survive all these
events, and not depend on the good intentions of
individual managers who are likely to have moved
on by the time closure occurs.
Financial surety – Given that many mine closures
have occurred as a result of poor market conditions,
low profitability, or even bankruptcy, there is a need
for some kind of financial surety to make certain
that closure costs are funded.To ensure that the
funds are available for these closure activities, the
company is generally required to post a financial
surety or bond.43
Public participation – Some form of public
consultation process is required that allows for
dialogue over the long-term issues and end-use of
the site.
Post-Closure Costs
Sometimes there will be ongoing costs that have to
be paid after closure occurs. One of a number of
examples is the cost of operating a water treatment
plant to abate acid drainage, as described earlier. But
decisions on mining projects have to be made long in
advance of this point, on imperfect knowledge, and
usually based on probabilities rather than a clearly
known outcome.This provides decision-makers and
the public with three alternatives, all of which are
highly unpalatable to at least some actors. First, there
could be a decision that the risks are too high and
mining will just not be permitted. Second, there could
be a decision that the risks are acceptable and the
project will proceed. If the company cannot be
induced to pay whatever long-term liabilities result,
society will assume them. And third, government could
set a guarantee or bond requirement sufficiently high
to cope with identified future problems.
MMSD THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
This latter method of funding has proved quite
effective in some countries, though it has failed in
others. Bonding is a government function, and it is
hard to know how to proceed when a government
does not want to take that role. A number of
governments in the developing world have chosen, at
least to this point, not to follow that route:
• Even if multinationals can post bonds, many local
companies do not have the resources, and in many
cases these smaller local companies provide more
employment than the big ones.
• Effective closure planning requires considerable skill
and capacity on the part of both government and
companies, and this is sometimes not available.
• Many developing countries have recently
undertaken comprehensive review and revision of
mining legislation to attract foreign investment, and
this is seen as a backward step and an economic
disadvantage in competition for investment with
other countries that have no such requirements.
• Effective planning requires considerable flexibility to
develop appropriate solutions to site-specific
problems.This implies discretion in government
officials, which is seen as a disincentive to investment
and a source in some places of potential corruption.
Although the polluter pays principle requires the
company to pay the costs, this does not necessarily
mean that the company should itself maintain the site
in perpetuity. Perhaps the best solutions are those
where the company pays a local institution to take the
responsibility.This does not imply that the company
should necessarily be absolved of all responsibility if
things do not go according to plan.There are now
private companies emerging that will assume the
liability for ongoing site maintenance for a fee.
There is a clear need to integrate the accounting
profession into any discussions of long-term financial
arrangements to ensure that accounting rules do not
drive companies away from best practice.
The primary responsibility for mine closure lies with
companies and the governments that regulate them.
But this responsibility should also extend to the
lenders. Neither private lenders nor multilateral
lending or funding agencies have given this matter
sufficient attention, perhaps in part because closure will
not occur until long after their loans have been repaid.
245
MMSD BREAKING NEW GROUND
One way forward could be the promotion of
Community Sustainable Development Plans as a part
of the project process. (See Chapter 9.) These would
involve local communities, national governments, and
companies working out their respective roles and
obligations during the project life and at closure.
In addition, there is a role for accounting professionals
to improve handling of these issues.There should be a
review of the accounting and tax treatment afforded
closure costs, to ensure that if negative balance sheet
implications of proper approaches to closure or
awkward tax consequences are a disincentive to best
practice, these issues are identified and dealt with.
The TRAC programme (Transfer Risk and Accelerate
Closure) is a risk-based, fixed-price approach used in
South Africa and the US in which the mining
company enters into a fixed-price contract for the
purpose of transferring the risks and responsibilities for
mine closure to a contractor.44 This may be a helpful
model in some circumstances.
Given the uncertainty about the numbers and the state
of abandoned mines, it is impossible to estimate with
any precision what it would cost to rehabilitate them.
Moreover, the cost depends very much on what
‘rehabilitation’ consists of and to what standard it is
pursued. Information available from sites with serious
problems that have been investigated suggest daunting
sums. Since 1980 the US has had a ‘Superfund’
programme administered by the Environmental
Protection Agency to locate, investigate, and clean up
the worst hazardous waste sites, a number of which are
the result of mining, smelting, or refining minerals.
In the Clark’s Fork River region of Montana , for
example, where gold and silver mining started in the
late nineteenth century and continued until the early
1950s, rehabilitation measures have been roughly
estimated at US$1 billion.48 The Summitville mine in
Colorado is likely to cost some US$225 million to
clean up, and the Yerington copper mine in Nevada,
around US$200 million.The US-based Mineral Policy
Center, a non-governmental organization (NGO),
suggests that it will cost US$50–60 billion to clean up
abandoned mine sites in the US alone.49
Mining Legacies
The environmental issues of current and prospective
mining operations are daunting enough. But in many
ways far more troubling are some of the continuing
effects of mining and smelting that occurred over past
decades, centuries, or even millennia.These sites have
proved that some impacts can be long-term and that
society is still paying the price for natural capital stocks
that have been drawn down by past generations.
It is impossible to estimate how many former mining
sites exist around the world or how many of these
carry environmental risks. For one thing, there is no
clear way to define a former mine site. Using a fairly
inclusive definition, it has been estimated that in the
US there are more than 500,000 abandoned hard rock
mine sites.45 Certainly not all of them present
environmental problems. In the UK, most of the
problems are related to tin mining in the counties of
Devon and Cornwall, where there are some 1700
abandoned mine workings, most of them very small,
that continue to affect the water in some 400
kilometres of classified rivers.46 In most countries with
a long history of mining, there are relatively few data
on former mines or their environmental legacy, though
there is enough information to know that problems are
widespread.47
246
Paying for the Legacy
One way to create a credit in the current natural
capital account would be to deal with the worst
environmental problems at abandoned mine sites.
Improving these sites could create benefits, which
could offset or perhaps even exceed any deficits
attributable to current operations. And at some of these
sites even a relatively small investment can have a big
environmental payback.
It would clearly be in the interest of the industry to
get this done.These sites are effectively advertising
against the industry. In some places, they are highly
visible and effective advertising. It might be that a
dollar spent in reducing the amount of this kind of
advertising might be more effective than one spent
on promoting positive corporate image.
The issue is who will pay the costs. Good economic
policy suggests that identifiable environmental costs be
internalized on one principal condition: that all other
companies have to do the same. If a company fails
to obey the law, penalties should be used to make it
comply. At the other end of the spectrum, the only
prospect for cleaning up a historic mine site is with
public funds.
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MINING, MINERALS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT CHAPTER 10
Between these clear cases, there is a wide range of
intermediate scenarios based on how long ago the
mine was abandoned, whether the laws applicable at
the time were complied with, who owns the site now,
and the succession of companies operating it. (See
Table 10–1.) In some cases of US litigation, such as the
Smuggler Superfund proceedings, millions of dollars
have turned on whether a modern company is the
successor in interest to a firm that operated a particular
mine many decades ago.
It may still be difficult to make the polluter pay even
for recent mining operations. In industrial and
developing countries, there are sometimes quite
different attitudes and values towards past liabilities
for environmental damage.
This raises the question of the source of public funds.
One option is to take the money from general
government funds.This might be equitable if most of
the minerals were used within national borders – and
assuming that the use of mineral products is distributed
roughly according to the payment of taxes. On the
other hand, many poor countries, including ones with
significant adverse legacies, cannot afford this.
Priorities for Action
Clearly, far too little is known about the extent of
mining’s environmental legacy or what it would cost
to remedy the problems. But these uncertainties are no
excuse for inaction.The worst sites have already been
identified: they are fairly hard to miss.There is plenty
of work to be done while the parameters at the less
blatant sites are debated.
The first global priority must be for the public
authorities to identify and register abandoned mines
and assess the risk they pose. Given the scale of the
problem and the limited capacities of public agencies,
they will need to establish priorities – the registration
process, for example, would need to be set beyond
some agreed threshold of mine size.They would also
have to concentrate the immediately available resources
at the most dangerous sites, where clean-up will offer
the greatest benefits.
The second priority at the national and international
levels should be to develop new funding mechanisms
that will be sufficiently robust and sustainable to tackle
problems that will be a burden on future generations.
Alternative ways of generating a fund for abandoned
mine work are discussed in Chapter 16.
Table 10–1. Possible Allocation of Responsibility for Dealing with Mining Legacies
Scenario
Responsibility
Ancient mine workings.
Rehabilitation with public funds.
Historic mine with no identifiable owner.
Rehabilitation with public funds.
Mine closed and former operator can be
Former owner could be liable or rehabilitation could be a
identified, but no longer owns the site.
public responsibility.
Mine closed but former owner still owns the site.
Owner/operator is responsible for preventing damage to
neighbouring property and controlling hazards.
Mine is still operating.
Owner/operator is responsible through an agreed
closure plan.
Operating mine early in project life.
Owner/operator is responsible through an agreed
closure plan
Permits granted but no operations have yet started.
Costs fully internalized to the extent current scientific
and technical understanding permit.
Mine has not yet received necessary permits.
Costs fully internalized to the extent current scientific and
technical understanding permit.
MMSD THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
247
MMSD BREAKING NEW GROUND
Environmental Management
Environmental Impact Assessment
Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is perhaps the
most widely used tool of environmental management
in the minerals sector.This is due in part to people in
the minerals sector and in the World Bank who have
been instrumental in spreading its use. Even in its
origins, social and economic factors tended to creep
into this environmental exercise.This is now being
deliberately promoted with the development and
integration of tools such as social impact assessment
(SIA) and cost-benefit analysis into the EIA process.
The need for EIAs is well established, and they are
now mandatory for most large-scale development
projects. (See Box 10–7.) However, their
implementation is often poor. One of the core
problems is that the international community has yet
to set firm technical standards on, for example,
gathering baseline hydrological data, assessing
archaeological remains, predicting acid drainage, or
identifying key flora and fauna.This uncertainty
allows EIAs to drift down to the lowest common
denominator. It also discourages professional
excellence. Reputable consultants who insist on sound
Box 10–7. EIA Leads to Mining Refusal in South Africa
The eastern shores of St. Lucia Lake in South Africa contain
valuable reserves of titanium, and in the 1970s and 1980s the
government granted mining rights to Richards Bay Minerals. In
addition, this area of forested dunes is a valuable source of
biological diversity. In 1986 it was designated as a wetland area
of international importance within the International Convention
on Wetlands.
Between 1989 and 1993 the post-apartheid government in South
Africa undertook an environmental impact assessment. The
research was entrusted to over 50 scientists and other experts
and was presented in the form of individual reports that were
commented on by the various stakeholders. A Review Panel was
charged with using this information to determine whether mining
would be compatible with nature conservation and tourism. As a
result of this rigorous exercise, mining permission was refused
and in 1999 the area was declared a World Heritage Site. Not all
believe that this was the ‘right’ decision, given South Africa’s
current economic situation.
Source: Porter (2000); King (2000).
248
methodology in carrying out such assessments find it
difficult to compete on price with people who are
willing to take short cuts – especially if regulators are
not sufficiently well informed to be able to reject
substandard work.
Environmental impact assessment has proved a
successful tool and has been expanded to include social
concerns – sometimes within the EIA process,
sometimes in a separate SIA.There is now considerable
interest in ensuring that other issues, like the potential
for spreading HIV/AIDS or for local economic
development, are included in the assessment.
An integrated impact assessment should incorporate
analysis of all relevant variables in a single coordinated
process. (See Chapter 9.)
Environmental Management Systems
To gain the full benefits of an EIA, it should become
part of an environmental management system (EMS)
that seeks to integrate environmental responsibilities
into everyday management practices through changes
to organizational structure, responsibilities, procedures,
processes, and resources. An EMS provides a structured
method for company management and the regulating
authority to have awareness and control of the
performance of a project that can be applied at all
stages of the life cycle – from identification of a
deposit to mine closure.The stages in an
environmental management system cycle are:
• organizational commitment,
• environmental policy,
• socio-economic impact assessment,
• environmental impact assessment,
• community consultation,
• objectives and targets,
• environmental management plan,
• documentation and environmental manual,
• operational control and emergency procedures,
• training,
• emissions and performance monitoring,
• environmental and compliance audits, and
• reviews.
The EMS is a repetitive cycle, with each stage being
continuously revisited and improved on each visit.
Although it is designed as a tool for the company, an
effective system provides an easy way for the regulatory
authority to check compliance.The responsibility for
setting up and running an EMS lies with the company.
THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT MMSD
MINING, MINERALS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT CHAPTER 10
Compliance with the EIA can be monitored through
an EMS.
Box 10–9. The Lisheen Zinc/Lead Mine in Ireland
Before construction could start on the Lisheen mine the
Best Practice
The mining industry operates in a highly dynamic
business climate that increasingly demands successful
adaptation to changes in social values and public
expectations of corporate behaviour. At the corporate
level, respect for both the physical and social
environment is now considered to be an essential
element of good business practice. (See Box 10–8.)
Most major mining companies are committed to the
continuous improvement of their environmental and
social performance, often going beyond the legal
requirements to include voluntary industry codes of
practice and management systems.
company had to obtain a planning permit, an Integrated Pollution
Control (IPC) Licence, and a mining lease. They also had to
convince the local community and the regulatory authorities that
a mine at Lisheen would bring considerable benefit to the region
and not cause any environmental damage. The mine is located
in the rural heartland of Ireland.
The main areas of concern were the deposition of tailings and
the potential contamination of the groundwater.
It was agreed that 51% of the tailings would be mixed with
cement and used as backfill underground, while the remaining
49% would be deposited in a fully lined tailing storage facility
located on a peat bog. The company also undertook to sink
replacement boreholes for the farmers. Before granting the IPC
At the international level, for example, ICME
established an Environmental Charter that was
developed and endorsed by its members.The charter
originally encompassed environmental stewardship
and product stewardship. Following consultation with
its stakeholders, ICME adopted a Sustainable
Development Charter. At the national level, in 1996
the Minerals Council of Australia launched a Code
for Environmental Management on behalf of the
Australian minerals industry.This code was reviewed in
1999 and has recently been revised. (See Chapter 14.)
At the ‘local’ level, the method and level of interaction
between the company, the regulatory authorities, and
the community can be critical to the success of the
project. At the Lisheen mine in Ireland the company,
Anglo American, spent five years collecting baseline
data and communicating with the relevant groups in
order to design a project that was acceptable to all and
met the legislative requirements. (See Box 10–9.)
Box 10-8. What Is Best Practice?
The concept of best practice dominates discussion of improving
environmental performance in the mining industry and making
decisions on waste management options and mine closure
Licence, the authorities required the company to lodge a bond
worth in excess of US$16 million to pay for closure and
rehabilitation costs.
The company decided to adopt a policy of transparency, and
held meetings and consulted some 20 local groups. As a result,
the company received positive support from the local
communities and the licences were granted without the need for
a public hearing.
Source: MEM (1998); Stokes and Derham (2000).
However, this level of commitment is often due to the
personality of one individual and the continuity may
be broken when that person leaves the project.
In addition, many international organizations, such as
the UN, the World Bank Group, the World Health
Organization, and financial institutions now have their
own operating guidelines that include environmental
and social issues. However, there does need to be a
push for higher standards in the production of an EIA
and for the incorporation of the EIA into an EMS.
This will make a major contribution not just to
better practices in mining, but also to sustainable
development generally.
more inclusive. Unless the meaning of best practice is agreed
on, however, the term is meaningless and its use is often
misleading. Best practice may be defined as the methods and
techniques that have proved to lead to successful outcomes
through their application, but different interest groups will
almost certainly have different views of what constitutes
‘success’.
Risk Assessment and Emergency Response
Risk assessment and management are becoming
increasingly important in the development of a mining
project, where the uncertainties associated with
environmental (and social) prediction are potentially
higher than those of other industrial sectors.The
MMSD THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
249
MMSD BREAKING NEW GROUND
process of risk management incorporates many
different elements: from the initial identification and
analysis of potential risks to the evaluation of
tolerability and the identification of potential risk
reduction options through to recommendations
regarding the selection, implementation, and monitoring
of appropriate control and reduction measures.
Although risk assessment has a wide application in the
mining industry, there would be little value in investing
in detailed risk analysis if the potential outcomes did
not influence development or operational decisionmaking. Recent catastrophic failures of a number of
tailings storage facilities have shown that in many cases
the response bodies, the community, and the
companies were not fully prepared to deal with such
emergencies. In response UNEP has published an
Awareness and Preparedness for Emergencies at a Local
Level handbook for mining (known as APELL).50
This publication is aimed at improving emergency
preparedness in the mining industry, particularly in
relation to potentially affected communities. It looks at
a number of hazards and risks and identifies 10 steps
required to prepare adequately for an emergency.
•
•
•
•
Recommendations on Managing the Mining Environment
These recommendations should be read in conjunction
with those in Chapter 16, which contains the
integrated Agenda for Change.
• Large-volume waste – The International Council on
Mining & Metals (ICMM) and other appropriate
convenors such as UNEP should initiate a
process for developing guidance for the disposal
of overburden, waste rock, and tailings and the
retention of water.This should be incorporated into
the industry Sustainable Development Protocol
proposed in Chapter 16.The views of all
stakeholders should be solicited from the outset for
the design of this process. Long-term and short-term
risk assessment and financial considerations should
be included.
• Land disposal – The mining industry should re-examine
its land disposal practices to include alternative uses
for waste, and the long-term future of the site. An
integrated approach should be taken to water
management, including water supply, dewatering
activities, tailings, and heap leach water management.
• Management of tailings facilities – The industry should
establish a method of international certification
for the designers of tailings storage facilities.
250
•
•
•
•
Governments and funding agencies should require
regular independent audits of all tailings storage
facilities and establish a method of implementing the
findings of the audit.
Marine disposal – Industry, governments, and NGOs
should agree on a programme of independent
research to assess the risks of marine and, in
particular, deep-sea disposal of mine waste. A shared
and reliable information base on which optimal
decisions can be made is required.
Riverine disposal – A clear commitment by industry
and governments to avoid this practice in any future
projects would set a standard that would begin to
penetrate to the smaller companies and remoter
regions where this is still accepted practice.Whether
that is done in the context of a protocol process or
otherwise, industry is more likely to accept this idea
if it gains confidence that other options will be
looked at on their merits.
Consultation – Before a mine proposal is accepted, all
concerned – especially the local community –
should be consulted on the proposed development.
(See Chapter 9.)
Capacity – A source of technical expertise and advice
must be made available to government, insurers,
communities, companies, and others to ensure that
they can build their capacity for best practice.
Monitoring – Industry, government, and other
stakeholders should establish the best method of
conducting environmental and socio-economic
monitoring and of incorporating the results into the
management of environmental and socio-economic
impacts.
Legislation – Industry, government, and other
stakeholders, perhaps under UNEP auspices, should
prepare best practice guidelines for all aspects of
environmental and social issues.These guidelines
should include, but not be limited to, mine closure
in the context of sustainable development, acid
drainage, tailings management, and risk assessment
and emergency planning.
Lenders – All lenders, including funding agencies and
multilateral banks, should encourage more rigour in
dealing with closure issues in mining proposals.This
should include a well-developed closure plan that
identifies the resources that will be required and a
system of independent review.
Abandoned sites – The industry should cooperate
with international organizations and bilateral donors
to develop an inventory for abandoned mines and
identify sites for priority action.
THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT MMSD
MINING, MINERALS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT CHAPTER 10
• Funding mechanism –A funding mechanism should be
developed to pay for remedial action programmes at
abandoned sites. Alternative funding mechanisms are
discussed in Chapter 16.
Associated Environmental Issues
Energy Use in the Minerals Sector
Responsibilities in the Minerals Sector
The current level and pattern of energy use is a critical
factor affecting global environmental conditions.
Climate change is a central concern for sustainable
development. It has the potential to cause major
impacts on the productivity of ecosystems and is hard
to reverse once established.
Current scientific data indicate that human activities
have modified the global climate over and above what
may be associated with the fluctuations caused by
natural cycles.The signing of the Framework
Convention on Climate Change in 1992 was a turning
point in public and inter-governmental awareness of
this potential. Since then, mounting scientific evidence
shows that a root cause of global climate change is
gases emitted from the burning of fossil fuels and other
sources, such as the release of methane gases from
agriculture and oil and gas production.51 It is widely
acknowledged that developing countries will have the
least capacity to adapt to a climate change.
Responsibilities for these problems are shared among
the public and private sectors. Governments, industry,
and the public in the most industrialized countries play
a key role in both contributing to global energy use
and providing policies for addressing the resulting
problems. Currently, some companies in the oil and gas
industry (such as BP and Royal Dutch Shell) are
addressing this issue and have reaped financial benefits
from proactively establishing greenhouse gas reduction
programmes.
There are many reasons why the minerals sector is
particularly implicated in the aspects of potential global
environmental change that are related to energy use:
• Production of mineral commodities from primary
sources involves the movement and processing of
large volumes of material, all of which requires a
source of energy.
MMSD THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
• Many finished products that depend on mineral
commodities to function consume considerable
amounts of energy, such as motor vehicles and
electronic goods.
• Due to its energy requirements, the mining and
minerals industry may influence decisions about
investment in power sources.
• Several mineral commodities, most notably coal, are
used as fuels.
The last of these reasons is of profound importance
for sustainable development and has already been the
subject of a critical debate among NGOs, industry,
academics, and energy policy specialists. Despite
its importance, this issue is beyond the scope of this
report for two reasons. First, in the limited time
available, involvement in these issues was beyond
project resources. Second, there were already a number
of participatory processes, some of them larger than
MMSD, looking at these specific issues, and it was
unclear that MMSD could add anything significant
to the ongoing debates.
Although it is sometimes said that 4–7% of global
energy demand comes from ‘mining’, the boundaries
are not sufficiently defined to determine an accurate
universal figure.52 The best estimates relate to individual
mineral commodities, but even then the figure depends
on where and how they are produced. Estimates of use
of energy through the whole minerals cycle are even
harder to develop.
Figure 10–3 illustrates some of the variation among
countries in the importance of electricity consumption
in different minerals industry sectors.Total electricity
consumption in mining and quarrying by countries in
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (104,000 gigawatt-hours) is comparable
to that of rail (89,000 gigawatt-hours).53 Electricity is,
of course, only one of many forms of energy used in
these industries. Put together, the five minerals industry
divisions used 11.3 million tonnes of diesel in 1998,
which is only 4% of the total used in road transport
(286 million tonnes).
The impact of electricity production on climate
change depends to a significant extent on the source of
the power for electricity; if electricity is primarily
produced in coal-fired plants, then the impact is
greater than if it comes from some renewable sources.54
251
MMSD BREAKING NEW GROUND
Figure 10–3. Percentage of Total Electricity Consumption Used by Mining and Minerals Industries, Selected Countries and
the European Union, 1998
Source: IEA (2001a) and IEA (2001b)
% total final
consumption
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
*
0
Australia
Japan
*
PR China
India
*
South Africa
Brazil
Chile
United States
Canada
European
Union
Iron and steel production
Non-ferrous metals production
Non-metallic minerals production
Mining and quarrying (excluding coal)
Coal mines
*Data for coal mines not reported.
Energy Efficiency in the Production of Mineral Commodities
The minerals sector has a critical interest in reducing
its use of energy per unit output, because of obvious
implications for production costs. Depending on the
specific operation in question, energy costs for
different unit operations vary considerably in relation
to total operating costs. For minerals processing, it may
be up to one-quarter of the total. (See Table 10–2.)
Considering the whole process of making primary
aluminium, expenditure on energy may account for
one-third of the total cost of production.55
During the twentieth century, the sector achieved
dramatic advances in energy efficiency by means of
technological innovation. Over the last 50 years, for
instance, the amount of energy required to produce
1 tonne of primary aluminium has decreased by 40%.56
Motors and pumps used for minerals extraction have
become more efficient.The target is not, however, just
to increase the efficiency with which energy from any
one source is used. A key priority is to reduce direct
and indirect releases of greenhouse gases. Mitigation
options vary between different sectors of the industry.
In the case of aluminium, iron, and steel, there is a
252
diverse set of emission sources, including both power
generation and process-oriented ones. Security of
supply is a critical issue to consider in the selection of
energy sources.
The future role of technology in reducing emissions
within minerals businesses is discussed in Chapter 6.
There are, however, a large number of options for
increasing the efficiency of current production
processes.These range from relatively straightforward
updates of portable mine site equipment (see Box
10–10) to those that depend on significant long-term
capital investment and policy changes affecting the
industry (see Box 10–11).
The price of energy may increase as a result of
commitments made at government level under the
Kyoto Protocol (part of the Framework Convention
on Climate Change).This may be either because of the
switch to low-carbon energy sources or because of the
need to pay carbon taxes or purchase emission permits.
Energy price increases could mean that pressures to cut
costs in the minerals sector may become even greater
in the future. Cost increases could range from 10%
THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT MMSD
MINING, MINERALS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT CHAPTER 10
Table 10–2. Estimates of Energy Costs as a Share of Total Operating Costs, Selected Ore Mining Operations
(based on US price data for 1999)
Type of operation
Detail
Size of operation
(tonnes per daya)
Percentage of operating costs
Fuel
Electricity
Total
Ore output
Surface mine
Underground mine
Stripping ratio 1:1
1000
0.3
6.4
7
Stripping ratio 8:1
8000
2.1
8.7
11
Room and pillar adit
8000
nd
nd
6
Room and pillar shaft
8000
nd
nd
5
Feed input
Hydrometallurgical
mill
Cyanide leach mill
2000
nd
nd
27
Flotation mill
one concentrate
product
1000
0.0
27.5
28
three concentrate
products
8000
0.0
28.4
28
a
Estimates are only approximate as they are based on only one group of theoretical models for mine costs.
Source: Schumacher (1999), with the help of additional decoding by O. Schumacher nd: not determined.
Box 10–11. Energy Efficiency in India’s Primary Aluminium
Sector
Box 10–10. Cost and Energy Savings from Basic Technology
Application
Although aluminium production accounts for only 0.5% of the
value of output within the manufacturing sector, it is one of the
The Blue Circle Aggregates Lithonia Quarry in Georgia, US,
produces 1 million tonnes per year of aggregate and
manufactures sand for construction and road building. Based on
an assessment conducted by the George Institute of Technology,
the quarry implemented a series of motor system upgrades,
which reduced the energy use of 4 million kilowatt-hours by
6.2% and cut the electricity demand of 500 kilowatts by 16%.
This saved the company US$21,000 per year.
most energy-intensive industries in India. In 1993, its share in
total fuels consumed was 2.6%. Energy costs in this sector are
the highest of all manufacturing sectors in India, from 35% of
total production costs upwards. Aluminium demand is expected
to increase to 1.06 million tonnes in 2006–07. In order to sustain
competitiveness for both internal and export markets, retrofitting
and efficiency improvements have been undertaken, based on
state-of-the-art technology. Despite this, a detailed study of the
productivity of the aluminium industry in India has estimated that
The greatest energy savings resulted from reducing the capacity
of three large water pumps and changing the source from which
they drew water. A second modification was simply to physically
lower another pump by 25 metres. This particular upgrade had a
simple payback of 1.5 years. A third innovation was to replace
four motors with more efficient versions once they reached
burnout. It is predicted that this will have an average payback
energy-saving potentials of 20–40% could be achieved at some
alumina manufacturing plants. At the smelting stage (conversion
of alumina to aluminium), energy saving potentials range from
16% to 30%. The barriers to energy efficiency concern access to
capital, lack of information on the savings and benefits of the
required technologies, and national policy changes affecting
the industry.
period of about 2.4 years.
Source: US Department of Energy (1999).
MMSD THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
Source: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Schumacher and Sathaye
(1999) p.31.
253
MMSD BREAKING NEW GROUND
to 50%, and may have a major impact on mining
company cost structures and competitiveness.57 This
will produce winners and losers, since companies that
increase their energy efficiency most rapidly will gain
a competitive edge.There will also be shifts at the
international level. Companies mining in the most
industrialized countries will feel the impact first under
the Kyoto Protocol, while those working in many
developing countries will not be subject to limits for
the next decade or so.
For the extraction of metal ores, one of the greatest
challenges for energy efficiency is that of declining
grade. Lower grades inevitably require greater amounts
of material to be moved per unit of product. In this
context, it is important to acknowledge that the
amount of metal in recyclable materials is often greater
than the ores currently being mined. Key challenges to
advancing recycling for mineral commodities are
discussed in Chapter 11. Once collected and sorted,
the production of scrap metals often requires a fraction
of the energy used in production from primary
sources.
electric motors have a higher amount of copper
winding.58 Energy efficiency can be increased through
the use and application of metals – such as the use of
zinc in increasing the durability of steel through
corrosion protection and the better energy efficiency
of electrical equipment achieved by increasing mass or
volume.
Recommendations on Energy Use
• Initiate a global advisory body to address the lack
of comprehensive, consistent, and regular data on
energy use in the mining and minerals industry and
the role of recycling.This body should make
recommendations to all minerals and mining trade
groups publicly available. It should assess the best
means of making non-proprietary, audited data
concerning energy use in the minerals sector
available to the public.
• Convene a task force to report on the implications
of climate change policies for the safety and security
of mining and minerals processing operations.
Managing Metals in the Environment
Making the Use of Mineral Commodities More
Energy-Efficient
As highlighted in Chapter 2, mineral commodities are
fundamental components of numerous products, and
thus play a significant role in global energy use by
enabling the existence of a product in the first place
and by making products more or less energy-efficient.
The energy efficiency of products has significant
implications for the amount and type of metal used.
The way in which mineral commodities are used also
has significant implications for their re-use. Product
design for recycling, re-manufacture, or extended
product life has significant implications for energy use.
Clearly, product designers, recyclers, and manufacturers
need to work together much more effectively to
exploit the business opportunities provided by this.
Manufacturing processes can be substantially improved
in order to avoid waste material being generated
(whether or not it is then recycled).
In some cases, greater energy efficiency for some
products may result in the use of greater amounts of a
mineral commodity. (See Chapter 11.) Increased
emphasis on efficiency in the use of electricity is likely
to increase the demand for copper, as more-efficient
254
A number of metals are of great environmental
concern because of their potential chemical toxicity.
These concerns extend to metalloids – non-metallic
elements, such as arsenic, that in some respects behave
like metals. Indeed, the toxic properties of many metals
and metalloids have been exploited in the design of
pesticides or antiseptics. For many people, the fear of
harm is as important as the damage they know has
been caused.This is a significant issue with respect to
risk communication and may have social and
economic consequences. For example, the value of
land is depreciated if there is a risk of contamination.
It is therefore possible to argue that metals and
metalloids can reduce natural capital not only through
their toxic action and persistance, but also by their
presence at concentrations that cause unease.
Many opinions are rooted in the catalogue of infamous
incidents where metals and metalloids have, beyond
reasonable doubt, caused serious human health effects.
One such case was the debilitating bone disease called
Itai itai (‘cry of pain’) that broke out among people in
lower part of the Jinzu river basin in Japan.While the
nutritional status of the people was an important factor
in determining the magnitude of the disease outbreak,
a significant underlying cause was cadmium discharged
THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT MMSD
MINING, MINERALS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT CHAPTER 10
to the river from a lead-zinc mine. River water was
used to irrigate rice crops, which accumulated high
concentrations of this element. Consumption of the
rice was an important cadmium exposure route for the
people of the area.59
There are numerous other cases of concern. Among
these are arsenic as a by-product of copper production
in some parts of the world, and the effects of mercury
on artisanal and small-scale gold miners. (See Chapter
13.) Concerns are, of course, not just restricted to sites
of metals production.The use of lead in gasoline and
paint (now phased out in many countries), which
caused concentrations of this metal in blood to exceed
health guidelines, is another example.The mercury
pollution caused by discharges from a chemicals
factory at Minamata, Japan, resulted in a shift in public
perceptions of this element. Manufacturing processes,
recycling, and waste disposal can be equally
contentious because of the contamination they may
cause.This includes occupational exposure, such as the
respiratory diseases affecting workers involved in the
processing of beryllium ores and production of the
various chemical forms of this element.60
In many cases, the actual detection of toxic effects
may not be relevant; it is the presence of a metal or
metalloid above a threshold for the health of humans
or ecosystems that causes the alarm or is used to cause
alarm. As with all chemical hazards, demonstrating
actual harm beyond reasonable doubt, and setting the
thresholds, is an entirely separate and formidable task.
Managing metals in the environment must involve
dealing with scientific uncertainty and deciding on
appropriate levels of precaution.This is not just the
realm of scientists and politicians. Perceptions of the
benefits of use of a metal, the merits of alternative
materials, and the likelihood of mismanagement are
fundamental determinants of the chance of harm.
They also affect the willingness to act.
A key feature of most contamination and pollution
incidents is that responsibilities for harm are poorly
defined and slow to be taken up.This is often the case
with the use of metals and metalloids, which can be
released into the environment at all stages of the
so-called minerals cycle. For instance, are mining
companies responsible for the ultimate environmental
fate of the materials they produce? Should recyclers
accept a share of responsibility equal to the proportion
of world demand that they supply? Clearly, the
MMSD THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
Photograph not shown
problem is ensuring that all actors in the minerals
sector clearly allocate and share responsibilities for
managing the risk of harm.
Allocating responsibilities is no easy task. First and
foremost, this is because metals and metalloids are
naturally ubiquitous both above and below Earth’s
surface.61 This is particularly true for mining areas,
where ores have been present at or near the surface
for millions of years. Furthermore, the absolute
concentrations of any metal or metalloid are usually
less important, in terms of the risk of harm, than the
chemical and physical form in which it is present. Not
all forms are bioavailable, and some forms may become
more stable over time. However, some fear that the
reverse is also true and promote the idea of ‘chemical
time bombs’.62 Some metals have truly global cycles,
and human modification of the environment (such as
through acidification and climate change) can alter
their behaviour without additional releases by humans.
At the local and regional level, land use change can be
equally important.The case of mercury in the Brazilian
Amazon exemplifies this. Here evidence now shows
that mercury concentrations in soils are greater than
can be attributed solely to gold mining.63
Progress in the Management of Metals
The world has steadily learned more about the
environmental chemistry of metals and metalloids.64
Today’s greater understanding has been the basis of a
number of global initiatives to manage the production
and use of these elements, including international
forums on the safety and management of chemicals.
Metals have also been the subject of international
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MMSD BREAKING NEW GROUND
agreements, including the 1998 Heavy Metals Protocol
of the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air
Pollution (an international agreement that governs
emissions and uses of lead, cadmium, and mercury) and
the 2001 International Convention on the Control of
Harmful Antifouling Systems (which controls the use
of tributyltin on ships). An important part of all these
efforts is maintaining up-to-date information systems.
The International Union of Geological Sciences and
UNESCO are making a global contribution to this
with the International Geochemical Mapping Project.
The International Council on Metals and the
Environment (now ICMM) has played a role in
encouraging work in the scientific community on
assessing the risks to the health of ecosystems and
humans associated with the production of these
elements.
These, and a number of national efforts, have helped
reduce some of the most harmful emissions. For
example, the dispersion of arsenic has dropped
significantly over the last two decades. In 1983, an
estimated 10,000–15,000 tonnes were being released in
Europe, the United States, Canada, and the Soviet
Union.65 But by the mid-1990s the total had fallen to
around 3500 tonnes for the world as a whole.66
These gains have not been evenly shared, however.
While, however many people in industrial countries
benefit from reduced risk of exposure, there are still
severe problems in many developing countries.These
often relate to the legacies of contaminated mining
sites, as in Southern Africa.67 Acid drainage and the
generation of mining wastes, discussed elsewhere
in this chapter, are means by which some of this
continues.The transport of materials also poses serious
hazards, as demonstrated by the spillage of mercury on
its way from Yanacocha mine in Peru.68 Landfill sites
containing batteries and electronic equipment
continue to affect aquifers world-wide.
Strategies for Managing Responsibilities More Effectively
The list of technical requirements for managing the
risk of harm caused by metals and metalloids is
unending. For the mining and minerals industry, these
relate mainly to acid discharges and atmospheric
emissions.This section discusses strategies for managing
metals in the environment more effectively; the focus
here is on prevention rather than clean-up.
256
While there is a continuing role for penalties and
incentives to reduce metal emissions, additional
strategies are emerging to manage the risk of harm
more effectively.The most recent is the growing
interest in product-oriented public policy, particularly
in Europe; the general usefulness and success of such
a policy will have to be evaluated over time. One
advantage of this policy is that it takes into account the
entire supply chain, from extraction through processing
and use to (if necessary) disposal.This ‘cradle-to-grave
approach’, also known as life-cycle analysis, is discussed
further in Chapter 11.
The precautionary principle (see Chapter 1) must lie at
the heart of the management of metals and metalloids
for sustainable development.Those advocating or
exercising precaution in the light of uncertainty must
do so on the basis of transparent and wide debate.
Workers and communities are often simply unaware of
the harm that may be caused or the possible impacts
of a precautionary policy on their livelihood. It is
important to appreciate that harm may be caused by
exceptional cases of the mismanagement of products or
materials (such as illicit dumping, transport disaster,
or failure of a waste facility) rather than when policies
and strategies of governments and businesses go
according to plan.
There is clearly pressure on dispersive uses of metals,
namely uses that put these metals into the environment
in ways where they cannot be recalled, recovered, or
recycled. Examples of dispersive uses that have been
or are in the process of being phased out are many:
lead in gasoline and paint, arsenic and mercury in
fungicides, cadmium as a dye.These pressures come
from two directions. First, there is the environmental
concern that their presence in the biosphere will have
negative effects on human health or on plants or
animals. Second, there is the growing demand for
stewardship over metals in use for reasons of
resource recovery. Caught between these demands,
the remaining dispersive uses will increasingly be
questioned.
This approach should not be followed for all metals
and metalloids without wider considerations.
Many elements that are potentially toxic at high
concentrations are also essential nutrients. Removing
them completely from the environment would entail
supplements in the human diet to replace them.This
can be illustrated by the growing awareness of the
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MINING, MINERALS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT CHAPTER 10
dangers of zinc deficiency.69 The approach so often
followed with synthetic organic pollutants, for
example, of recognizing no lower threshold of human
health effects and assuming ‘the lower the better’ for
environmental concentrations is not appropriate for
elements that are ubiquitous in Earth and necessary for
many forms of life.
Box 10–12. The Principal International Framework for Action on
Biodiversity
The UN Convention on Biological Diversity is a key instrument of
the global programme for sustainable development. It represents
a concerted attempt to provide a legally binding policy
framework for biodiversity based on international consensus.
Now ratified by more than 180 countries, it provides the minerals
Recommendations on Metals in the Environment
sector with a politically sound basis for engaging in constructive
dialogue and partnerships with the biodiversity community.
• ICMM should identify the priority areas of
uncertainty regarding the contribution of the mining
and minerals industry to the global cycle of
potentially toxic elements. It should seek to initiate
collaboration between industry associations,
international agencies, and academia to ensure that
such knowledge is generated and effectively
communicated to all interested parties.The aim
should be to establish links between specific sources
and the likelihood of human health impacts or
effects on ecosystem function.
• All industries associated with the metals life cycle
must work together more effectively to ensure
that data are available in order to undertake risk
assessments for the uses of their products and byproducts in society.This should be part of their
product stewardship activities. Industry associations
should play an active role in facilitating this.
The CBD has three key objectives:
• the conservation of biological diversity,
• the sustainable use of its components, and
• the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the
utilization of genetic resources.
The CBD translates these guiding objectives into a series of
Articles that contain substantive provisions on in-situ and exsitu conservation of biodiversity; the provision of incentives for
the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity; research
and training; public awareness and education; assessment of
the biodiversity impacts of projects and minimization of adverse
impacts on biodiversity; regulation of access to genetic
resources; access to and transfer of technology; and the
provision of financial resources. Most of these provisions are
equally applicable at a mine site, to a government department’s
work programme, or at international level. Thus the CBD
provides governments, NGOs, and the private sector with a most
useful conceptual framework.
Biological Diversity: Threats and Opportunities
Biological diversity (or biodiversity) is a critical part
of our natural capital endowment. Defined by the
UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) as
‘the variability of all organisms from all sources…and
the ecological complexes of which they are
part…[including] diversity within species, between
species and of ecosystems’, it is an abstract concept.70
(See Box 10–12.) Biodiversity issues have been
overlooked frequently in planning and decisionmaking, and the term has often been interpreted too
crudely as the sum total of living things and the
ecological processes associated with them. But it is
much more than just ‘goods’ and ‘services’. Biodiversity
– and its inherent variation – fuels living organisms’
ability to adapt (or to be adapted by an human
intervention, such as plant breeding) within an evershifting environment. It is therefore best understood as
the living world’s capacity to change – variability –
and the wealth of biological forms and processes that
MMSD THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
The CBD has established institutional arrangements for its
further development and monitoring of progress. The key
institutions include the Conference of the Parties, which meets
biannually; the Subsidiary Body on Scientific Technical and
Technological Advice; and a Secretariat. Industry bodies can
attend CBD-related meetings as observers.
Other relevant legislation at international, regional, and national
levels that needs to be taken into consideration includes the
RAMSAR Convention on Wetlands of International Importance
and the World Heritage Convention.
Source: The Convention on Biological Diversity (1992). For the definition of
biodiversity see Article 2 of the Convention. See also Secretariat of the Convention
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MMSD BREAKING NEW GROUND
derive as a result – variety. Biodiversity is therefore
found everywhere, albeit in different concentrations
and configurations.
Biodiversity’s critical value lies in the choices or
options that it supports, for both present and future
benefits – whether this relates to the alternative food
sources it provides, to the range of bio-chemicals and
processes that underpin modern and traditional
medicinal products, or to the way it increases the
resilience of the biosphere’s myriad natural processes,
from pollination to watershed protection. Humans are
all somehow dependent on biodiversity, so its loss is
likely to affect everyone. But those most likely to suffer
the consequences of biodiversity loss are indigenous
peoples’ or rural dwellers, many of whom continue to
remain directly dependent on wild habitats and natural
ecosystem services for their entire livelihood needs,
whether by choice or through lack of alternatives.71
In the past, trade-offs between human activities and
biodiversity were made unconsciously – some land was
set aside for strict protection, irrespective of impacts
on local populations, and the rest was converted to
other uses, irrespective of any biodiversity loss.72 Today
the context of operations has changed dramatically.
Escalating populations and consumption needs are
placing ever-greater demands on land and natural
resources; protected areas – which have been the
principal biodiversity conservation instruments –
unable to withstand these mounting pressures suffer
regular encroachments, whether through agriculture,
forestry, fishing, or mining-related activities. It is clear
that protecting these areas will not conserve
biodiversity if the rest of the land base is poorly
managed.Thus the focus of attention must fall as much
on addressing all three objectives of the CBD, or
biodiversity’s ‘triple bottom line’ – conservation of
biodiversity, sustainable use of its components, and
equitable sharing of the benefits arising from its use –
as on all three dimensions of biodiversity (ecosystems,
species, and genes).The CBD framework can therefore
help link biodiversity much more effectively to the
economic and social dimensions of sustainable
development.
Encroachments into protected areas have, however,
raised many controversial debates related to land access
and ownership (see Chapter 7) and what is considered
‘best’ for biodiversity conservation. Community
conservation has been promoted as an alternative –
and complementary – approach on lands held outside
258
or adjacent to protected areas. But there are many
policy and institutional issues constraining its wider
adoption. On the more technological side there is exsitu conservation, which focuses on the collection and
storage of specimens in gene banks, zoos, or botanical
gardens.There is much the mining sector could do to
support such approaches further, in concert with other
sectors, in addition to mitigation of their direct impacts
on all biodiversity wherever it is found.
Clearly, much more still needs to be done if such
biodiversity is to be maintained. Although the CBD
demonstrates a growing commitment towards the
cause, its implementation is constrained by, among
other things, a serious lack of resources, inappropriate
economic tools and incentives, and insufficient
capacity, especially in developing countries.The
minerals sector has a key role to play in biodiversity
maintenance, given that some mining ventures can
eliminate entire ecosystems and all their endemic
species and that its activities are increasingly prolific
in relatively undisturbed high-biodiversity-value areas.73
Lasting success, however, will depend on coherent
remedial actions of all sectors, including economic
planning, agriculture, fishing, energy, infrastructure, and
tourism. It will also depend on wealthier consumers’
understanding of the social and ecological impact of
their consumption patterns.
Identifying Areas of Valuable Biodiversity
Not all areas are of equal biodiversity conservation
concern.Thus any ‘intrusive’ sector, be it agriculture,
mining, commercial logging, or infrastructure, must be
informed on the specific locations of zones of greatest
biodiversity value or most critical conservation
concern, so that appropriate mitigation measures can
be taken. Biologists and the conservation sector invest
heavily in such identification and priority-setting
exercises, and at the global level there are now various
descriptions of global biodiversity priority areas based
on different approaches such as hotspots, endemic bird
areas, important plant areas, and eco-regions.74 Some
of these coincide with protected areas; others do not.
The conservation sector has, however, singled out
protected areas (IUCN Management Categories
I-IV) and UNESCO World Heritage Sites as areas to
be avoided by the mining sector at all costs.This
recommendation has raised many difficult dilemmas.
(See Chapter 7 for more detailed information on
mining and protected areas.)
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MINING, MINERALS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT CHAPTER 10
While such priority setting exercises are a useful first
approximation, they are not always spatially coincident,
and they use different proxies for biodiversity, making
it difficult for outsiders to know which to give priority
to. Scientists disagree about which proxies to adopt,
mainly because biodiversity per se cannot in all its
complexity be quantified by any known all-embracing
measure, and knowledge of it is constantly evolving.
Given that everyone has different interests in and
understanding of biodiversity, whether any chosen
proxy is the ‘right’ one is always open to debate. For
instance, aspects of biodiversity that have compelling
value to one group may mean little or nothing to
another: a hunter-gatherer’s view of which plants
warrant conservation may vary markedly to that of a
western botanist or a specialist in traditional Chinese
medicine. Selection of proxies is therefore predicated
on value judgments and scientific assumptions about
which facets of biodiversity matter more than others.75
Global mapping exercises have also proved too coarse a
resolution for use in local land use planning or zoning.
At the same time, valuable information that is
available at the site-specific level has often not been
systematically catalogued or peer-reviewed and is not
therefore accessible to decision-makers. Innovative
mechanisms, such as the use of the internet, for peer
review of such data and for ensuring that it remains
within the host institution’s memory are necessary,
especially given the rapid decline in the availability of
resources for systematics and ethnobiological survey
activities.
Progress in presenting more coherent and up-to-date
thinking on priority biodiversity conservation areas
and methodologies for their identification and
assessment have also been seriously hampered by
progressive underinvestment by the public sector in
a number of related research areas, particularly in
systematics and taxonomy (the identification and
enumeration of different species). Only 1.7 million
species have yet been named out of a possible 20–100
million.76 Existing taxonomic expertise is also skewed
towards certain groups such as mammals rather than
invertebrates or the plant kingdom. Links between
western and indigenous classification and assessment
mechanisms are weak as well. Governments in both
industrial and developing countries have lost interest
in such activities and are at times openly sceptical
about their importance. Perhaps there is some cause
for scepticism – especially in the developing-country
MMSD THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
context where other demands on already scarce
resources are intense – but it may also stem from
inappropriate previous public support for this
discipline.
The consequence is that many scientific institutions
that previously housed invaluable expertise, herbaria, or
zoological collections have run short of finance, and
irreplaceable knowledge and data have been lost. Such
information gaps produce uncertainty, and it is
impossible to draw conclusions about what is being
lost – or the consequences. At the same time, the
funding and execution of survey, research, and
publication on biodiversity has been largely taken over
by international NGOs, multilateral agencies, and the
private sector. (See Box 10–13.) While such institutions
should continue to play a key role in these activities,
they need strong central coordination and independent
peer review. Otherwise, individual agendas are likely to
dominate, reducing the objectivity of science.
How Mining Affects Biodiversity
Measuring the impacts of mining and biodiversity –
and defining their effects and implications – also
presents certain challenges, for reasons similar to those
described in the preceding section.When assessing
impacts on biodiversity, the key question is,Which
proxy is best, as not all species are of equal value?
Some species will increase, others will decrease, and
some will not change at all following mining
disturbance (assuming the entire ecosystem is not
being removed). And peoples’ perceptions of the effects
of these changes will also vary.The proxies most
commonly selected are rare, endemic, or threatened
species, or protected areas, and there are good reasons
why these are chosen. But they are by no means
representative of all biodiversity. In conducting
biodiversity impact assessments and drawing
conclusions about their implications, it helps to
articulate clearly which proxy was chosen and why.
There also needs to be thorough analysis of whether
or not the ‘new’ combination is better, worse, or
unchanged, and for whom.
The mining and minerals sector is not necessarily the
most important influence on biodiversity in a
particular region. Figures released by the National
Parks and Wildlife Service in Australia suggest that
mining was responsible for 1.1% of presumed
extinctions of endangered plant species, compared with
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MMSD BREAKING NEW GROUND
Box 10–13. Partnerships in Biodiversity Survey and Research
Partnerships between companies and research institutions
could provide some interesting new opportunities for biological
and ethno-biological research. When companies explore for
minerals they are often entering pristine regions, unexplored by
science. Given the current public funding crisis, there is clearly
potential for greater cooperation between researchers and
mining companies – not just for providing financial resources
but for the necessary access and infrastructure that rigorous
survey and research activities require. While the time frames
may not always coincide, especially at the exploration stage, the
potential should not be rejected.
An interesting example for such industry support to science is a
series of studies funded by PT Freeport Indonesia (a subsidiary
of Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc. and Rio Tinto plc)
during the 1990s in the company’s area of activity near the
Lorenz National Park in Indonesia. A highly controversial mine
by many accounts, this operation has managed to make a major
international contribution to increasing understanding of the
flora of New Guinea through the collection of materials of poorly
known species and of species new to science. About 5600 plant
collections now form the basis for the database of 9500
collections. Eight papers have been published describing new
species, and the total number of species estimated from the
region is 8400, with 500 or more occurring at over 3000 metres.
Of the estimated species in the area, probably less than 40% are
found in Kew Gardens’ collections.
None of this valuable information would have been created if
not for the support of PT Freeport Indonesia. Many will certainly
argue that this simply cannot offset the mine’s social and
operations make provisions for rehabilitation, mining
impacts can be more far-reaching than those of other
sectors.78 There is a great deal of detailed published
material on the impacts of mining on biodiversity and
natural ecosystems, including Conservation
International’s Guide to Responsible Large-scale
Mining, IUCN and the World Wide Fund for Nature’s
review of mining and forest degradation in Metals
from the Forest, the Minerals Policy Center’s review of
the damage hardrock mining has done to US aquatic
ecosystems, and the Australian Minerals and Energy
Environment Foundation’s contribution to the MMSD
project, not to mention the many relevant academic
and company-sponsored papers.79
Generally, the greatest risks to biodiversity are when
mining ventures enter relatively remote and
undisturbed areas.The very act of building access roads
for exploration purposes brings significant risks to
biodiversity – as the raised expectations of potential
large-scale benefits often trigger rapid in-migration.
Large-scale biodiversity loss occurs as colonizers must
clear land for settlement and farming and take out
economically valuable wild species to supplement their
income or for food. (See Box 10–14.) Sometimes
new people and activities in an area can also bring in
alien pests and diseases that have hugely detrimental
effects. It is worth noting that this may all be at its
most intense before mining starts and before any
major mining company is on the scene, and activities
are frequently ungoverned and unregulated. In cases
where the mine does not get developed, such activities
frequently continue unabated, as there are few
alternative livelihood sources to fall back on.
environmental impacts. Certainly the trade-offs have been
enormous, and the benefits of biological information generated
are small in comparison. Still, there are some opportunities here
that, even in apparently adverse circumstances, could yield
collateral benefits to science if suitably pursued.
Source: Dr Robert Johns, Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
38.2% attributed to grazing and 49.4% to agriculture.77
Nevertheless, mining does almost always have an
impact on biodiversity; in some cases the effects can be
huge and, where global extinctions are at stake, they
can be irreversible. Surface mining often results in total
clearance of vegetation and topsoil, often leading to
accelerated desertification, and while better-managed
260
‘Junior’ exploration companies – which may not be
involved in mining at all – do a great deal of the
world’s exploration. In areas of emerging mineral
interest, there may be many such companies on the
scene. Given that grassroots exploration is high-risk
and capital-intensive, with finance often hard to get,
success can depend on speed: getting in, getting results,
and getting out, with a minimum number of days of
drill crews in the field. It may also depend on not
letting competitors know what is being surveyed or
where.This can present distinct challenges for
mitigating negative impacts, as dealing effectively with
intense bursts of mineral interest, where multiple actors
are moving quickly and into remote areas far from
government scrutiny, is a daunting task. Furthermore,
instituting evaluation and permitting processes can lead
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MINING, MINERALS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT CHAPTER 10
Box 10–14. Coltan and the Conservation Crisis
Until relatively recently, few people had heard of columbitetantalite ore or ‘coltan’, which contains the rare metals tantalum
and niobium that are widely used in the manufacture of
capacitors for electronic devices. (See Chapter 11.) Between
1997 and 2000 the price of coltan rose from US$100 to US$800
per kilo. Significant deposits of this ore are found in the east of
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it is easy to
extract from shallow pits using picks and shovels.
extinctions, or they can restrict access to species
that local communities depend on, such as snails,
mushrooms, medicinal plants, and so on. Local
extinctions can be caused by any sectoral activity, but
there is one group of plants that is likely to go extinct
as a result of mining activity alone.These plants –
metallophytes – grow in areas where soils are heavily
loaded with metals, and are often of very restricted
distribution.They often grow on or very near
mining deposits, hence mining activities can easily
obliterate them, resulting in the loss of a potentially
valuable resource.
The result has been a modern-day ‘gold rush’ into this region.
This has triggered a dramatic decline in the wildlife population,
notably of the Grauer’s gorilla, which has been hunted for food
and for trade. Recent evidence suggests that over the past five
years the gorilla population has dropped by 80–90%, and the
animal is soon likely to be classified as critically endangered.
This well-publicized case has dramatized the need to find ways
of conserving biodiversity in the face of economic pressures.
On a good day a miner can produce a kilogram of ore a day
worth around US$80 – in a region where most people live on
20 cents a day. It is unrealistic to expect people to forgo income
on this scale. The only solution must be to find ways of paying
individuals or countries for conserving such areas. The Global
Environment Facility has provided some help in the support of
biodiversity, and UNEP has a Great Apes Survival Project, but
such efforts have not yet had much impact in this area.
Source: Harden (2001); Redmond (2001).
to costly delays. Despite these challenges, there have
been some attempts to implement good practice in
exploration – as in the Asarco Ltd Camp Caiman Gold
Project in French Guiana.80 There is clearly an urgent
need to create the conditions whereby good practice
in exploration becomes more widely adopted.
Mining processes themselves also have serious
implications. Clearing vegetation, shifting large
quantities of soil, extracting large volumes of water,
and disposing of waste on land or through water
systems often lead to soil erosion and sedimentation
and the alteration of the flow of watercourses.This can
change the spawning grounds of fish and the habitats
of bottom-dwelling creatures. Acid drainage, as
described earlier, may be the most widespread negative
impact on aquatic species. Such effects can instigate
MMSD THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
Mining can sometimes boost some aspects of
biodiversity.This can happen through the creation of
new habitats or even from disturbance. Abandoned
mineshafts, for example, serve as sanctuaries for many
of North America’s largest populations of bats. Sand
and gravel pits in the UK have attracted many varieties
of wildlife. Many of these benefits may have been
random or accidental, but some companies are now
making concerted efforts to enhance habitats, which
may help to enhance biodiversity. Others have taken
steps to protect certain species during the mining
process.Viceroy Gold Corporation of British
Columbia, for instance, helped The Nature
Conservancy create a 150,000-acre Desert Tortoise
reserve as a mitigation measure for California’s third
largest gold mine.81 If all companies made the effort to
identify habitat needs critical for the survival of species
of concern, to protect them during their operations,
and to enhance them wherever possible, there could be
many more biodiversity success stories.
Abandoned mine sites are generally seen as a liability,
as they are often a major source of pollution. However,
they sometimes offer some interesting biodiversity
phenomena. If a former mining area and surrounding
tailings are naturally recolonized by vegetation, the
unwanted legacy can become a resource base of
unique genetic materials and plant and animal
behaviour.The study of these organisms and their
colonization behaviour and evolution observable on
former mine sites can enhance closure and
rehabilitation strategies.Their cataloguing and
conservation is a priority.This is to be done not only
prior to mining activity but also throughout a mine’s
life since these plants and animals have revealed a
remarkable adaptive capacity to changing metal
environments.
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MMSD BREAKING NEW GROUND
Others have taken care to encourage flora and fauna as
part of the process of rehabilitation of mine sites.82
Here the best practice is usually to introduce native
species that are able to survive in that environment.
Well-intentioned attempts to revegetate sites disturbed
by mining have been a source of introduction of
exotic species that have had many deleterious effects
on native plants and the ecosystem. In some cases,
however, local communities have asked companies to
revegetate with non-native species that might yield
better livelihood benefits, such as pine trees for fuel or
timber. Even where a species is requested by the local
population, careful assessments should be carried out to
understand and avoid other potential negative effects.
Box 10–15. Balancing Biodiversity Conservation with Economic
Development
Since 1986, Rio Tinto and its subsidiary QIT Madagascar
Minerals S.A. (QMM) have been assessing the potential for a
50–60 year ilmenite (titanium dioxide) mine near Fort Dauphin in
southeastern Madagascar. The project is potentially the most
important in the industrial history of the island – a US$350million investment with US$20 million in annual revenue
predicted for the state, including mining royalties, of which 70%
is to be returned to the region. Together with the possible 30%
local employment commitment, it appears that the project has
the potential to bring some economic benefits to the region.
However, the mineral deposit is located on or near remnant
There are also a number of interesting examples of a
new use being found for an abandoned mine that has
significantly enhanced biodiversity and local
livelihoods.These include the BHP Billiton mine in
the Cape in South Africa, where the company has
supported the opening of the 700-hectare West Coast
Fossil Park with both fossils and wildlife to attract
tourists.83 In Cornwall in the UK, a former china
clay quarry is now the site of the spectacular Eden
Project, which includes one of the world’s largest
greenhouses.84 Other good examples of mine closure
include rehabilitation of the bauxite mines in Western
Australia by Alcoa, which was listed on UNEP’s Global
500 Roll of Honour for its achievements.85
fragments of a unique littoral ecosystem that contains several
endemic species. Elsewhere, these forests have been largely
degraded or removed, so the sections, while patchy, have
gained conservationists’ attention. They raised serious concerns
about the proposed mine, and requested a two-year moratorium
during which alternative development options, such as
ecotourism, were to be explored. But no significant eco-tourism
developments materialized.
QMM commissioned a team of specialists to undertake various
social and environmental baseline studies – perhaps one of the
lengthiest such exercises ever conducted in the mining industry.
This information was summarized and presented as a social and
environmental impact assessment (SEIA). Some of the basic
assumptions in the SEIA have been questioned, however – such
as the speed at which forest will be depleted. Conservation
Managing Biodiversity
Some of the larger mining companies have begun to
take steps towards addressing biodiversity issues.
Many have formulated biodiversity policies; some have
followed this up with innovative actions within
planning, design, and operating management. (See
Box 10–15.) Evidence of such remedial actions is
encouraging, but still they remain largely restricted
to a few major players, and even within this group,
some are doing much more than others. Adopting
‘biodiversity-friendly’ practices remains hugely
challenging, especially for smaller companies and
peripheral players.This is partly because governments,
while perhaps committed on paper to biodiversity,
have found it difficult to create the incentives and
apply the necessary regulations that could encourage
all players, from the individual miner to the large
company and the other economic sectors, to conserve
biodiversity.
International believes that a significant slowing of forest
reduction could also be achieved in the absence of the mine.
Overall, however, the SEIA has certainly covered new ground in
linking both social and environmental issues, and in tackling
biodiversity issues explicitly.
The SEIA concluded that the forest fragments are already under
pressure for charcoal and building materials, and that given
current depletion rates, and without any new planting of fastgrowing species, the remaining forest would be destroyed
within the next 20–40 years. These facts and predictions were
key in the pro-mining argument – that is, that the forests would
disappear anyway and the mine could help reduce local
dependence on forest resources. QMM has proposed various
activities that would help offset further impacts, such as planting
of various fast-growing species to provide a sustainable
alternative source of fuel and timber. Various tests have been
conducted to identify the most suitable species, as there are
distinct ecological constraints, such as the thin and fragile
topsoil, as well as social challenges regarding the management
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MINING, MINERALS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT CHAPTER 10
of these forests. QMM also intends to protect almost 1000
hectares of littoral forest remnants in three or four conservation
blocks, rehabilitate all wetland areas and about 600 hectares of
native forest, and establish monitoring procedures for the forest.
These are encouraging steps, but while the plantations are likely
to offset some of the demands it is unlikely that, given the
intense pressures, they can offset them all. Additional planting,
in concert with governmental efforts to tackle root causes of
But there are also issues of power balance within
administrations. Since the extractive industries bring in
revenue and employment, the voices in the Ministry of
Mines arguing for mining are usually stronger than
those in other ministries arguing for the protection of
biodiversity. For this to change, there needs to be much
stronger incentive to act on biodiversity, which often
means additional financial resources.
forest loss, will be necessary for more lasting and widespread
success.
Some observers continue to believe mining is simply not a viable
option here, so all mitigation attempts will be inappropriate.
The social and environmental plans are ambitious and the
constraining factors great. If the mine goes ahead – currently it
is in its feasibility study stage – there is no guarantee that they
can be overcome. QMM intends to invest in a Regional Planning
Process, but, as experience from all over the world shows,
these do not always meet their original expectations. However,
QMM seems determined to try and get it right. Their significant
social and environmental investment in the project seems to be
indicative of a genuine intention to implement a considered and
responsible project. If the mine does go ahead, it should provide
some valuable lessons and, if the various programmes are
successful, perhaps it will set some precedents for other
companies.
Sources: QMM S.A. (2001); Porter et al. (2001); Nostromo Research (2001).
In principle, mining companies should be operating
according to planning decisions and biodiversity
criteria set by governments and should be monitored
by appropriate agencies. In practice, few governments –
especially in developing countries – have the necessary
capacity, even though they may have ratified the CBD
and developed a National Biodiversity Action Plan.
The onus falls instead either on the companies
themselves or on conservation organizations. It is
therefore far too easy for companies and organizations
to exploit this vacuum and implement measures they
consider best fit.
In some cases governments have introduced
appropriate laws and regulations but have not enforced
them because they have no capacity to do so. Despite
various biodiversity planning processes required under
the CBD, there is frequently insufficient information
on the status of biodiversity on the ground. As a result,
they find it difficult to make informed decisions on
trade-offs – on alternative uses for the same land.
MMSD THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
One area causing great concern is the weakness of
environmental impact assessments. As indicated earlier,
these are now required for most large-scale industrial
projects, including mining. But they generally afford
doubtful protection – using the term ‘biodiversity’ very
loosely and giving little indication of how it is to be
interpreted.The recent report commissioned by the
International Association of Impact Assessment has
gone some way towards addressing the integration of
biodiversity into EIA systems, but further work is
needed.86 Often the EIA is not carried out until after
detailed exploration or even development drilling, by
which time the site can be covered by a network of
roads, making it impossible to establish true baseline
data. It is essential that at least rapid biodiversity
surveys be carried out prior to this stage.87 Clearer
international standards for EIA practice need to be
developed in a variety of areas to begin to make EIA a
more effective tool of environmental management.
The weakness of governments tends to put the burden
for managing biodiversity on NGOs and particularly
on international conservation organizations.While
these may act as a line of defence for biodiversity, they
cannot really claim to act on behalf of civil society in
general, especially when they are based in industrial
countries. NGOs often claim to speak ‘on behalf of ’
those who will suffer from a loss of biodiversity, in
much the same way that companies will speak ‘on
behalf of ’ those who have most to gain economically.
Thus far, unfortunately, there have been too few wellinformed and empowered local organizations willing
or able to take appropriate decisions.
Recommendations on Biological Diversity
These recommendations are based on discussions at
two MMSD Mining and Biodiversity Workshops in
October and June 2000.88
• Strengthen government capacity to manage biodiversity,
especially in developing countries – The CBD presents a
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MMSD BREAKING NEW GROUND
challenging agenda for action, especially in terms of
managing the trade-offs between poverty reduction
and biodiversity conservation. At the national level,
the CBD should provide the necessary framework
within which economic sectors could operate.
However, more resources and a strong political
commitment are needed if enabling policy,
institutional, and regulatory mechanisms are to be
developed successfully.Without strong government
inputs, governance falls to the private sector or
NGOs.
• Develop tools for more inclusive and integrated land use
planning, especially in developing countries – Rigorous
analytical tools for weighing up the social,
ecological, and economic costs and benefits of
different land use options and for arrangements that
support participatory decision-making processes on
land use need to be developed to support betterinformed and more inclusive decision-making
processes.This work should also build on existing
relevant concepts, such as UNESCO’s Man and
Biosphere Reserve or the Ecosystem Approach of
the CBD.Tools development must happen in parallel
with strengthening the capacity of and incentives for
developing-country governments and civil society
groups to participate in land use planning. (See also
Chapter 7.)
• Address funding shortfalls for biophysical science –
If rigorous decision-making on biodiversity and
conservation is to continue, and if conflicts are to be
minimized, governments – especially in industrial
countries – must acknowledge true responsibility in
this scientific area.There are many opportunities
for mining companies (and the private sector in
general) to stimulate and contribute towards research
partnerships on biodiversity conservation, such as
through contributing to taxonomy in remote areas.
But private funding alone cannot solve the rapid
decline in independent scientific capacity – hence
the urgent call to governments to reverse this
decline.
• Improve access and coherence of information on biodiversity
priorities – Relevant conservation organizations,
academic institutions, the mining industry, and other
key sectors (such as energy) need to work towards
establishing user-friendly, regularly updated and
linked information systems on global and local
biodiversity priority areas as a matter of priority.
Holding a workshop on ‘Information for
Conservation’ could be a first step forward. In order
to improve coherence, it is particularly important to
264
achieve some level of consensus between specialists
on which proxies are best used for biodiversity, and
why. Such work could also feed into biodiversity
indicators development for EIA.
• Articulate and enhance biodiversity better practice within
the mining industry – There have been no industrywide attempts to articulate the industry’s biodiversity
principles.The mining companies, through ICMM
and in collaboration with conservation specialists
and organizations representing local community
interests, should work towards producing a series of
guiding principles on mining and biodiversity for
the different stages of the mine cycle, along with
appropriate training manuals.This could involve,
among other things, multistakeholder reviews of
better practice, workshops, and lessons learnt analyses
from existing cases. If considered appropriate, such
principles could eventually become ‘codes of practice’.
The Way Forward
All the environmental issues raised this chapter pose
complex problems that test the capacities of mining
companies, governments, NGOs, and civil society.
This is partly because of the inherent complexity of
technical and ecological processes whose outcomes are
difficult to predict. It includes envisaging the quality of
water in a lake that will not be filled for decades, for
example, or the likely stability of a tailings storage
facility in the event of a once-in-a-lifetime storm or
seismic event. Some of them also require close
attention over a long period of time; something it is
hard for any organization to achieve.
Companies can help strengthen society’s ability to
solve environmental problems of all kinds.
For example, mining company expertise in the
rehabilitation of disturbed lands has often been useful
to other industries with less experience. Companies
can support capacity building on environmental issues
by providing access to information and the funds to
make this information more readily available, by
supporting stronger school and university curricula and
helping educate their own future employees, and by
developing important new skills and perspectives in
their current managers, professionals, and workers.
This chapter has focused on a series of priority
environmental areas for the minerals sector.They are
not the only ones, but they are among the most
THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT MMSD
MINING, MINERALS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT CHAPTER 10
pressing – and the ones where the consequences are
greatest. Industry is not yet at the point of providing a
net positive contribution to the natural capital,
whatever its contribution to other forms of capital.
There is, however, undoubted progress towards better
recognition of environmental problems and their
effective management.
There are some clear dilemmas. Employment in the
sector, especially in mining, is highest in smaller
enterprises, which are financially the weakest and often
have the least capacity to deal with complex new and
continuing challenges.There is a concern that pressure
for environmental progress may threaten a large
number of livelihoods.Those whose livelihoods are
threatened will not receive the environmental message
well if they see it as unsympathetic to their problems
and hostile to their immediate and long-term interests.
The only way they are likely to embrace change
is if it is coupled with opportunity. Perhaps this is an
affirmation of the principles of sustainable
development: there will be little progress in one
dimension unless there is progress in all.
Another dilemma is that of the level playing field.
Resistance to taking on greater environmental costs is
much less when companies perceive that everyone is
taking on the same costs. On the other hand, when
they are selling in a global market, the requirement for
cost internalization for everyone is a daunting task.
All companies need to face consistent guidelines for
environmental management if the mining industry is
to avoid a ‘race to the bottom’.
It is important to acknowledge that not all
governments are ready to promote the more stringent
environmental management of the industry. In poorer
countries, governments may have other priorities and
may fear that higher standards (and direct costs) may
drive the industry away. In many cases progress towards
better environmental management is at a rate that the
economy can absorb or is instigated by international
loans or aid.
Governments of industrial countries where mining
takes place generally have sophisticated regulatory
systems that can cover most eventualities, or they can
draw on extensive local expertise as required. But the
situation is quite different in developing countries,
where small and overstretched government
departments can be called on to make rapid decisions
MMSD THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
Photograph not shown
on the basis of relatively little information or technical
knowledge.To help fill that gap, MMSD proposes the
establishment of a Sustainable Development Support
Facility to provide technical support, on request, to
governments, insurers, lenders, or companies in order
to help them build their capacity and to ensure that
there is a viable, meaningful system of external
inspection and the resources to fund it.This facility can
be used as a source of information and advice on such
issues as:
• integrating the local community and civil society
into decision-making,
• development of detailed technical criteria for EIAs
and supporting studies,
• the review and approval of designs for tailings
storage facilities,
• inspections of tailings facilities,
• prediction and control of acid drainage,
• development of standards and procedures for mine
closure planning,
• risk assessment and emergency responses,
• development of techniques to survey abandoned
mines and set priorities on remediation, and
• rehabilitation plans for abandoned mine sites.
Details of the proposed Sustainable Development
Support Facility are provided in Chapter 14.
It is also important to address the problem of how to
manage exploration better, most especially how to deal
with the in-rush of exploration companies (or
sometimes artisanal miners) when an area suddenly
becomes ‘hot’. A great deal of damage can be done to
biodiversity and other values before there is a proposal
to mine anything, or even where no mining ever
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MMSD BREAKING NEW GROUND
occurs. Examining how to undertake exploration
effectively should be a focus for research funding.
Perhaps industry associations in the countries
important in exploration, and those governments,
could take a lead in the establishment of a modest
research project to better understand some of the more
well-known case studies.
Endnotes
1
UNDP/UNEP/World Bank/WRI (2000) p.389.
Pearce et al. (1994).
3
Centro de Estudios y Proyectos SRL and Netherlands Embassy
(1999).
4
See http://www.cyanidecode.org.
5
Ashton et al. (2001).
6
All of this material is collected in Van Zyl et al. (2002), which
covers many of these issues in more detail than space here allows.
7
Phelps (2000).
8
Van Zyl et al. (2002).
9
Mokopanele (2001).
10
Cale (1997).
11
Mitchell (2000).
12
Ashton et al. (2001).
13
Mitchell (2000).
14
Ashton et al. (2001).
15
See for example Ashton et al. (2001) p.308.
16
Mitchell (2000).
17
Colorado School of Mines website, at http://www.mines.edu/fs_
home/jhoran/ch126/amd.htm.
18
Details of these initiatives are provided in Van Zyl et al. (2002), at
http://[email protected], and at http://www.inap.com.au.
19
UNEP (1996).
20
Martin et al. (2001); see also Mining Association of Canada
(1998).
21
UNEP (2000).
22
ICOLD (2001).
23
Richards (2000).
24
Ibid.
25
Castillo (1998).
26
In 1972, at Buffalo Creek,West Virginia, in the United States,
125 people died in a coal waste rock failure. See Antenna website
at http://www.antenna.nl/wise/uranium/mdaf.html.
27
Martin et al. (2001).
28
Ibid.
29
ICOLD (2001).
30
Martin et al. (2001).
31
Ellis et al. (1995).
32
NSR Consultants (2001) Overview of Deep Sea Tailing
Placement for BHP Minerals.
33
Data from the Newmont website at http://www.newmontindonesiaoperations.com/html/environmental_issues_nmr.html.
34
Data from http://www.jatam.org/std/inggris/english.html.
35
Ellis and Robertson (1999).
36
Grassle (1991).
37
Van Zyl et al. (2001).
2
266
38
Sassoon (2000) pp.108–09.
Castilla (1983).
40
Ricks (1994).
41
The Summitville mine closed on less than a week’s notice.The
company declared bankruptcy (leaving unpaid a large local tax
bill), laid off the workers, and stopped vital environmental
maintenance at the mine.
42
Danielson and Nixon (2000).
43
Miller (1998).
44
UNEP/Standard Bank (2002) p.46.
45
Lyon et al. (1993).
46
Sol et al. (1999).
47
See, for example, Ashton et al. (2001).
48
Bob Fox, of US EPA Montana, personnel communication,
January 2002.
49
Mineral Policy Center (1993).
50
UNEP (2001).
51
Houghton et al. (2001).
52
Lovins et al. (2002).
53
IEA (2001).
54
According to the World Commission on Dams (2000), significant
greenhouse emissions may also arise from reservoirs associated with
hydroelectric power plant.
55
ICF (2000) p.78.
56
Ibid.
57
Lovins et al. (2002).
58
Ibid.
59
International Programme on Chemical Safety (1992).
60
International Programme on Chemical Safety (1990).
61
Thornton (1995) p.103.
62
Lacerda and Salomons (1998).
63
Roulet et al. (1999)
64
Nriagu (1996).
65
Nriagu and Pacyna (1988).
66
Pacyna and Pacyna (2001).
67
MMSD Southern Africa (2001).
68
Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (2000) p.57.
69
See http://www.zinc-health.org or http://www.izincg.
ucdavis.edu.
70
Convention on Biological Diversity (1992).
71
Koziell (2001).
72
IIED (1994).
73
A recent mapping exercise by Conservation International
indicated that areas where mining and mineral exploration are
active and where mineral potential is highest show a high degree of
overlap with those areas where biodiversity ‘value’, however
defined, is considered greatest.
74
Hotspots are areas characterized by both high levels of endemism
and high levels of threat; see Myers et al. (2000). Endemic bird
areas contain two bird species that have a breeding range of less
than 50,000 sq. km; see ICBP (1992). Ecoregions are large units of
land or water with distinct climate, ecological features, and plant
and animal communities.They are considered to be some of the
richest, rarest, and most endangered areas, and hence of critical
conservation concern; see http://nationalgeographic.com/
wildworld (a WWF initiative called Global 200).
75
Vermuelen and Koziell (forthcoming).
76
May (1998).
77
Leigh and Briggs (1992).
78
IUCN (2002).
39
THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT MMSD
MINING, MINERALS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT CHAPTER 10
79
Rosenfeld Sweeting and Clarke (2000); IUCN and WWF
(1999); Lloyd et al. (in prep.); Minerals Policy Centre (1997).
See also Cooke (1999).
80
IUCN, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, and ICME (2001).
81
See http://ceres.ca.gov/biodiv/newsletter/v2n4/mining_
company_reclaims_biodiversity.html.
82
Jenkin (2000).
83
See http://www.billiton.com/newsite/html/annual/98/
HSEPolicy.htm and http://www.indabadailynews.co.za/tuesday/
article04.html.
84
See http://www.edenproject.com/.
85
See http://www.alcoa.com.au/environment/miner.shtml.
86
The International Association of Impact Assessment has
developed a Proposed Conceptual and Procedural Framework for
the Integration of Biological Diversity Considerations within
National Systems for Impact Assessment.
87
See outputs of workshop held in Gland: International Union for
the Conservation of Nature, UNESCO World Heritage Centre,
and International Council on Metals and the Environment (2000).
88
See the minutes at http://www.iied.org/mmsd.
MMSD THE MINING, MINERALS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
267